


Haplessly Stricken

by ZAkara



Category: Original Work
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alpha/Omega, Angst, Drugs, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Mating Bond, Multi, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Omega Verse, Rescue, SO MUCH FLUFF, Sickfic, Threesome - F/M/M, Withdrawal, rape is only implied and past, threesome as in a relationship, well it's turning into one
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-15
Updated: 2020-05-04
Packaged: 2020-05-12 05:49:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 12
Words: 36,088
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19222885
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZAkara/pseuds/ZAkara
Summary: Keven, an alpha, was just there to do his job. All he wanted to do was knock a few beta heads together and get the victims out of the harem. He wouldn't be going home to his wife for another week, however. His mate, whom he never knew nor planned on meeting, needed him at his side.(REOPENED~)





	1. Midnight Shift

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was odd to get a phone call so late in the night, but the woman on the other side of the call sounded absolutely panicked. He rolled out of his unbothered wife's cradling hold to stand on his own feet. The alpha's sleeping shorts fell low on his hips as he mentally pulled himself together.

"Where am I going?" He grunted through a sleepy haze. The higher pitched woman on the speaker was rambling more than she was helping. Keven grunted his frustration, resorting to dropping the little phone onto his messed bed in favor of dressing. By then the insufferable ball of energy should have a couple thoughts strung together.

Keven's physical build was cut from rage more than discipline. Except for a couple mishappenings that had left some fading scars, the only prominent mark on him was the mate mark that had revealed itself when he had presented as an alpha. It wasn't anything to behold, just a black unassuming dot on the meat of his forearm. Other than that, his uniform was simple enough. He would need a new one soon though, judging by how the buttons strained to hold the fabric across his chest. His hair was messed from sleeping with it still wet from his earlier shower, but not much could be done with the dark, pale yellow rooted spikes. After fixing the bullet proof vest snug against his torso, he turned to retrieve the abandoned call from the sheets.

"Keven Direson are you even listening?!" the woman shrieked.

"No," he grunted. "Where am I going?" The indignant snort that resounded from the receiver almost brought a smirk to the alpha's face. He promptly went back to ignoring her rambling as he bent over the side of the bed, placing a gentle kiss on his little omega wife's forehead, with the muttered promise that he would be back soon.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He pulled up to the scene to find that multiple others had already arrived, lighting up the business street in flashing red and blue lights. Betas snarled from behind muzzles as they were being forced to their knees by officials. The shifting men where raging that they had done nothing wrong, that they were in the right. Supposingly they had the paperwork to back themselves up. Keven wouldn't think twice about ripping that cursed paper in front of their faces.

"Looks like you have everything under control." Keven observed, earning a quick glance from a fellow enforcer.

"Join the others to help clear the house, medics are on standby." The lead summed up quickly before pressing his earpiece to speak another couple lines of commands. Keven paced steadily up to the cracked front door of the house, barking and shouts still flying in the air as he studied the controlled chaos of the raid. A runt of a man bolted from his knees, hands still bound behind his back, and raced towards a shattered window. His escape attempt was cut abruptly short by Keven's giant grasp on his shoulder, lifting his flailing body so that the runt beta's toes barely brushed against the filthy floor.

Keven's dominant growl caused the runner to flinch and submit very quickly. Lance nodded his thanks, his own voice never lightening as he corralled the other four into kneeling positions. The place stank of rut and liquor. Behind it all, he was certain the bitterness of the air were opiates, which were probably used on the omegas that were captive here. Speaking of, Keven swiveled his sight, he hadn't seen a single one as of yet. Normally the harem would have clung onto a chosen enforcer by now.

"How many more of you roaches are in here?" Keven demanded, readying his revolver as he burned his pale glass sight into the kneeling filth. None of them answered the question at hand. So he merely ignored their invalid bickering.

The house was decently sized, six doors visible in the main hallway, with the kitchen and the living room conjoined by the front of the layout. These roaches had a lot of room to do their shit. All on one floor, which was a shame, honestly. They caught a good number, but more of them probably fled out the windows.

"Everything's clear, start upturning for evidence. Medics, the harem is in the last room on the left." the voice in his earpiece buzzed, switching to confirmations from the others on the team. Why did they need him here again?

As he was told, Keven paced over to the kitchen, absently opening all the cupboards to find empty, filthy shelves. With a slight grimace, his hold shifted to claws in the faux stone top counter and proceeded to rip it from the wall. Drywall crumbled and pipes creaked under the strain, but the cabinets were ultimately deposited at the other end of the kitchen. Like many places, underneath a faux floorboard was a cut out hatch. Within the dirt crusted space was paperwork. Just from a quick glance, it was the "consent forms" for the omegas in the harem. Lance's question of what Kev had found was the only reason he hadn't rended the things to bits.

"Someone got too into fifty shades." Kev grumbled as he handed the contents over. More finds were buzzing in his ear as he straightened himself, forcing to make a mental effort to not crack a helpless roach across the face. He almost wanted to challenge another one to try to run, slamming a face into cement would be entertaining.

Keven shouldered his way down the hallway between armored bodies that were scurrying back and forth in the cramped space. The air was pointedly missing the sour pang of omegan panic. There wasn't even a trace of fear. Keven narrowed his sight into the last room, the scent of omegas in heat was strong, but not even a sound was whimpered from anyone that wasn't clad as a soldier. Hooks were set in the walls as short chain leashes hung heavily on misfit collars. Each one didn't fight against any of the medic's advances. Dull, lifeless eyes stared at the floor between betas' feet. Rage rekindled under Keven's skin, his low, primal growl resounded in his chest as he ducked out of the room.

"There's an empty chain here." a voice reported over the ear piece. "Do another sweep of the house just to be sure we aren't leaving anyone behind."

"I'm on it." Keven responded quickly,  _needing_  something to do. His steps were loud as he circled the next room, he thought against yelling. If the missing omega was similar to the rest of them, Kev wouldn't get a response anyway. The room held a ratty bed. Blood stained the floorboards and the torn sheets, scent of rut and slick still clinging in the air, smothering any sign of anything that could still be alive. Slowly he started to lift the edges of the shallow bed frame. Kev half expected wide, terrified eyes to be staring up at him. Nothing but cracked wood floorboards stretched under the unsteady aluminum frame.

Keven paced to the only other door, what he presumed was a closet. The hinges whined as he opened it with the muzzle of his gun. The omega curled on the floor was far too thin. He didn't as much as raise his head to glance at the towering alpha. His nude frame wasn't even shaking, just passively existing.

"I've got him," Kev reported, kneeling in front of the unmoving man.

"We're getting you out of here." the alpha's voice rumbled lowly. Matted red hair was overgrown and twisting across the omega's face. His eyes were a sea king's blue. Even as the alpha looked over the man, he didn't flinch, he didn't whimper. He had yet to show any sign that he had even heard the alpha's arrival.

Keven didn't expect the surge of electricity that rushed over his fingers at the slightest touch. He was only going to lift the omega's chin, to study the evenness of those azure eyes further, but his breath was instantly stolen away. The little mark that had sat dormant on the meat of his forearm burned hotly as the sizzling patterns spread over his arm.

Mate- this little catatonic omega was his fairytail-fated mate.

Medics were filtering into the room as the alpha was hunched over, grasping helplessly at his own arm. The twists of the mating mark seared their inky way over his flesh. The bitter snarl that slipped past his tight lined lips urged other enforcers to breach the room.

"You've gotta be kidding me." Lance- the only other alpha on the premise- sighed, his dark chocolate eyes studying the two. The omega seemed absolutely unbothered by his mating mark, wherever it was spreading.

"Fall back Kev." Lance held a halting hand up to the medics. "I need to know you won't be an ass to anyone here." Keven nodded his head impulsively. His thoughts spiraled around his wife. What would she say? This wasn't something he could have predicted- he was just here doing his job! He  _needed_  to call Soya. He needed to hear her voice right now.

The omega was in a dire condition, Keven would need to let the medics get through anyway. He was no help to his little mate as he was.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Keven stared down at his cellphone, Soya's number lingering just under his thumb. Here, in the hospital, he didn't have any service, and they weren't letting him go anytime soon. His arm was fine, the new tattoo looking twists of inky black didn't even hurt anymore. The omega they had found was in such a fragile state, that if Keven left his side for more than a moment the omega's body would react as if he had been rejected.

Keven could kill by simply stepping out. The alpha was in a mental cage that was driving him utterly insane, but he refused to walk out. The man had survived so much, clung to life for just long enough. Keven wasn't about to throw all of his efforts out the window because  _he_  couldn't wait to make a phone call.

_God_ , Keven prayed that Soya would see the situation in the same light.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He sat in relative silence as the monitor beeped with every heartbeat of the currently sedated omega. Keven didn't have a name as of yet. The matted redhead was "Mate" in his mind for now. This complete stranger had gone through hell and back. Some part of Keven should have felt horrible for letting someone, the one he was destined to be with, suffer alone for so long, but his heart belonged wholly to Soya. He couldn't leave and let the kid die, but he was worried what his wife would think of the comatose omega.

A gentle knock echoed on the curtained off glass door. Keven grunted for them to enter, his glassy sight flickering over to the pale hand that was moving the stiff curtain out of her way.

"Soya." Kev gasped, knocking his chair back as he bolted across the steril tile flooring to wrap his arms around the petite woman. She chimed, Alpha was too distracted with taking in a deep breath of his wife's perfume.

"I was told you were in the hospital! Why didn't you call me?!" her voice cracked, her dark brown eyes searching Keven over for bandages.

"I don't have service here." He tried to appease. She pulled at him every which-way as she searched her stubborn husband for wounds.

"I'm fine. I swear to you, Dove." Alpha huffed, catching both of her hands in his and placing a kiss on her forehead.

"Then why are you  _here_ , in the ICU?" She finally looked past her taller husband, noticing the omega for the first time. A gasp sounded, her pale skin ashened a bit as she stepped around the alpha.

"What... poor thing, what happened to him?" Her steps were silent as she crossed the room, as she glided closer, her palm raised to cover her parted lips. A thought froze her at the side of the gurney, her shoulders squared as she hardened her sight on her nerve wracked husband.

"You didn't cause this, did you?" the liquid malice in her voice caused Keven to flinch and anyone within earshot to freeze.

"No, no.  _God, no._ " Keven was quick to defuse. He swallowed the lump in his throat, turning towards her and rolled his thick sleeve up to his elbow. The inky twists that resembled a tribal design were all the more domineering on his albino skin. Soya's shoulders dropped. Emotions shuffled over her expression far too quickly for Keven to be able to decipher. Just as quickly she turned her back to him, gaping over the unconscious omega for a long moment.

"I'm so sorry." Keven felt like he needed to say. "I didn't know this would happen. I wouldn't have gone."

"Don't say that." Soya snapped in a hushed tone, her glare landing on Keven for a second before softening as she turned back towards the stranger. "He doesn't deserve  _that._ "

"I love you." the alpha promised, rolling his sleeve back down to cover the cursing mark. "My heart, my  _life._ I belong to you, Soya."

"I love you too, Kev. But, you've got to realize that he needs you, right now." his shorter wife furrowed her brow at his puppy eyes as she spoke. Keven stuttered a breath, nodded his reluctant relief and walked to his wife's side. The redhead's breathing was being spurred on by machine. His hair laid in unkempt matting against his scalp and his face was in an unnatural grimace from the mask of tubes running down his throat.

"He probably wouldn't be here at all without the strength of the bond." Soya muttered, braving to smooth her fingertips over his chilled, bone thin forearm.

"I'd rather not think of it." Keven shivered at the taste of the thought. Instead, he wrapped an arm around the waist of his omega and let his free hand cup the stranger's limp palm.

His hand felt hauntingly familiar in the alpha's. The two had never met before, but something about the man's presence felt natural. Keven's whole life revolved around the woman at his side, who was seeming just as entranced by the redhead as the bonded alpha. The two married young, Keven twenty two and Soya only twenty, but neither of them regretted it nor ever looked back. Everyone had a fated mate, but very few ever met them. Lives continued on with the little markings being nothing more than a footnote in their journey. Keven had found his, and had no clue what to do from there.

Soya was as understanding as ever. Keven would never be able to express his gratitude towards her. Even if he were to start now and work for the rest of his life, she would never know how much he truly loved her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Soya placed a chaste kiss on the unconscious omega's forehead before turning to her whimpering husband. She had to hold back the chuckle that threatened to bubble up as she was caught up in the alpha's arms.

"I'm going to get us some breakfast: how's that sound?" she teased from between Keven's adamant pecking kisses.

"Sounds perfect." He purred under a breath, "As long as I get a cup of coffee." His wife flashed a trouble maker's smile and shrugged noncommittally. Keven couldn't help but watch the shorter woman disappear through the curtain on the other side of the room. Once again he was left alone with the stranger and his thoughts.

The alpha didn't want anything bad to happen to the kid, but why did he  _have_  to be his mate? His hand fit so perfectly in the larger man's palms, so much so that Keven didn't dare tempt to let his touch wander. Alpha didn't want to lie to him.

Other than the new tattoo on his arm, Kev felt nothing pulling him towards the stranger. He was just that, a nameless omega that he was supposed to rescue as his job. The cinderella story wasn't as cut and dry as many others tried to make it seem. Maybe that was because he was already with Soya?

The robotic heart beat and the mechanical pump that was working the omega's lungs were the only reason that he was even still alive. Even in oblivion, the kid's forehead was wrinkled with stress... now that Kev was paying closer attention, his eyes were darting beneath his eyelids. Could he be having a nightmare, what if he was waking up?

The alpha stared wide eyed at the omega, his hair standing on end as it was clear that the frail stranger was struggling. He hit the emergency call button before his mind could slip down the rabbit hole any further.

Nurses were swarming the room in a record time, their glances moving over the hunched alpha in question. Keven swallowed the lump in his throat, his calloused hand smoothing up the IV studded arm and up to cup the omega's chilled, sunken in cheeks.

"Could be a dream." one of the men on the other side of the gurney observed, eyeing a couple numbers on the computer screen.

"Looks like a nightmare," Keven grumbled, "Or is he waking up?"

"He isn't going to be waking any time soon, but perhaps we should give him another dose of the anti-withdrawal medications." the same man, a beta, offered before slightly baring his neck to the piercing gaze of the lingering alpha.

"Withdrawal?" Keven repeated, still holding the nurse under his unintentionally intimidating glare.

"Were you not told? He is currently dependent on Heroin. It's what the guys must have used in their house of work to control them."

"The cockroaches." Keven growled in response, finally breaking eye contact and studying the stress lines of the stranger's face.

"It's a hidden blessing that he isn't awake for this part. By the time we're ready to bring him out of the induced coma, he should be past the worst of the physiological symptoms."

They had used heroin to control the harem. The stranger had been subjected to a hell there was no escape. That's okay, he's under Keven's protection now, not to mention Soya would skin the alpha alive if he were to let anything happen. Drugged, beaten, passed around: the kid really deserved a break for once.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


	2. Life's Junction

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello my Ninas!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Five days of being all but chained to the kid’s side left Keven itching to go for a run. The redhead still looked hauntingly similar to how he had on day one. The only exception being that Soya had patiently sat for hours at his side and carefully worked the mats out of his neglected hair. There was still no leads on what the omega’s name was. Since they had lost a couple of the harem’s members before they had the chance to identify everyone, the only real chance they had of knowing was waiting for him to wake up.

“I set up the spare room for him.” Soya announced as she was working. Her pale hands nearly hue-less compared to the rich color of the omega’s frayed ends.

“You’re really okay with this?” Keven breathed, sitting at her side and bouncing his knees to exert some of his pent up energy.

“Of course.” she snorted. “This innocent little angel is a part of you, like it or not.” she turned her dark brown eyes towards her husband’s albino. “I love you too much to take you away from him. Besides, to hell if he doesn’t deserve to know a life without fear or abuse.”

“I… I don’t know him.” Keven muttered. “I’ve never heard his voice, I don’t even know his name.” the alpha was all but pleading for Soya to understand that this wasn’t something that came naturally for him. How could a so called higher power have the nerve to say that a complete stranger was more perfect for him than the wife he’s dedicated his life to? That takes a lot of balls.

“And you think this is going to be easy on him? He’s going to be terrified when he comes to!” Soya pinned her husband under a glare that caused him to snap his mouth shut. Pleading was still in his fidgeting eyes, but she ignored it in favor of turning back to her self-given task of combing out the omega’s hair.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ten days in, Keven was finally told he could return home. Yet, instead of running out the door now that he had the chance to, he found himself lingering on the side of his mate’s bed with a fragile, helpless wrist wrapped in a warm hold. Soya lingered at the foot of the bed, her face holding a knowing expression that Keven was pointedly ignoring as he nearly growled his promise.

“I’m just going to make sure your new home is ready for you.”

His wife smiled honestly when his deeply torn sight roved over to her, eventually Keven wryly tried to mirror it. The folder in her arms held all the information they had on the omega, most of which were tied to hospital testings and the papers they found in the harem house. As of right now, they only have a case number to use to identify him, should they need to call into the hospital, or vice versa.

In three days, that was about to change. In all honesty, that was not a lot of time to mentally prepare for meeting one’s fated mate properly for the first time. Tonight they’re going to start the long process of undoing the medication induced coma, in an estimated three days he should be functional enough to be able to communicate.

Until then, Keven pulled his wife close to him before they had even gotten into their car, and kissed her hard with her back pressed against the closed passenger door.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Their home was beautiful in a simplistic sense. Soya always kept it perfectly clean and tidy with her oriental background showing through in her taste in home decor. Keven toed his shoes off, kicking them carefully into the front closet before ever daring to step foot on Soya’s freshly mopped wooden floor. The two muttered affections as the alpha lumbered towards their staircase and towards his first hot- not in a hospital- shower he has had the glory of taking in over a week. His omega bent to straighten their shoes in the closet before padding silently across the home.

It was too late to start cooking anything marginally healthy, so she resorted to warming up a pathetic excuse of a pizza to appease their appetites- whenever her water hog husband decides to rejoin society. While the oven was doing all of the work, the quiet brought along all of the insecurities she expertly fenced off during the course of the day.

What if Kev decided that the stranger really was better than her? What if the kid didn’t like the idea of Soya being so close with his fated mate? Was the room she set up good enough for him? Would Keven even approve of it?

Wait- she did remember to get the laundry basket out of there, right? She promptly bounced to her feet, darted up the stairs and turned into the first room on the right. The plush carpet was freshly vacuumed under her bare feet. The full sized bed was the main feature in the center of the room, dressed in a new set of sheets and fur lined comforters. Her unreasonable fear quelled when she saw that the only thing on the small, dark wooden desk tucked in the corner was the petite pot of the brightly blooming orchid. Everything was in its place. Even in the chaos of it all, she hadn’t forgotten the little detail.

As she was chuckling to herself for the gratuitous paranoia that was starting to creep into her veins, the sound of running water shut off abruptly. Soya half expected to turn around to a very naked husband standing behind her, but no such luck. He would probably still be holed up in that room for another half an hour. She took a moment to re-examine the spare bedroom, wondering if she should burn some kind of incense. It would give the kid a place to go that didn’t smell of either of them. At the same time- he might need to have the scents of others around him to help him ground himself.

Figuring she would bring it up to Keven later on, she closed the door behind her as she left. She turned then towards their master bedroom, wondering if Keven had yet to learn how to use their hamper.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Keven looked good. He had dyed his hair back to the solid black, his eyes were masked in a demonic dark contact that hid his albinism very well. He wore a formal, seafoam green shirt tucked into pitch slax, and his hands partially shifted into a gradient of dark claws that only alphas could maintain without the help of fury fueled adrenaline. Those very claws made his floor length trench coat that much more difficult to put on.

“Haven’t seen you so nervous since our first date.” his wife teased with a smile, even so she wrapped a sure hug around his shoulders and pressed a reassuring kiss to his lips.

“You look good.”  she hushed, reading the worry lines on his forehead.

“Let’s go meet him, shall we?” he rumbled, carefully combing a silk piece of his wife’s hair back and out of her face with the tips of his claws.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“You don’t need to do this, you know.” a faux formal beta frowned as she observed Keven and Soya. “You both are happy as you are, and he’s already in the system. Just let IPA take it from here. This is our job after all.” Keven should have been proud of himself for not growling, but he did pull Soya behind himself. He didn’t even honor the scourge's comment with a reply, and only hardened his expression as they walked past.

“Just a fair warning, you take off that mask he will bite you.” the woman snapped behind them, raising the hairs on the back of Keven’s neck further. The only reason he didn’t turn around to slap that piece of societal shit was because his wife had his bicep in her grasp. Soya was the last barrier keeping him from being tranquilized as a feral alpha.

The air smelled too sanitized. The white of the walls and tile was too hue-less and bright from being constantly cleaned and polished. Keven hated hospitals, mostly because he has yet to have an overly pleasant reason to be in one. Whether or not today would change that statistic had yet to be seen.

The kid had been moved to another room since he had woken. The pale orange curtain hung thickly across the entrance, if not for the fluorescent lighting on either side, it would most likely be casting a dark shadow across the sterile space. Keven could feel the stares from the omega and beta nurses behind the counter as he stalled at the entrance of the room. Once again he was the only alpha in the vicinity.

He rapped the tips of his claws on the glass as a warning that they were just outside, unsurprisingly, there was no response. Soya squeezed Keven’s fingers one last time as encouragement before releasing him so that he could slip in from behind the heavy, rough fabric of the barrier.

The sight made Keven freeze in his advancement. Bluebell irises were locked onto the alpha. The heart monitor was beeping at a pace that didn’t seem human, and the omega was actually holding his breath as he waited to see what the alpha would do with him. There it was, the mating mark. The inky tendrils stretched over his bare left breast.

“Hey.” Keven choked out. His shoulders dropped back in an effort to make himself less intimidating, but he couldn’t reign his shift back now even if the world depended on it. The mask that handler had put on him was a dark, rough looking leather which dug into the omega’s cheeks. His wrists were cuffed to the metal rails of the gurney, and were already showing tears in the fragile flesh from where he must have been pulling against them. His bare legs were pulled up to his chest, balling his petite form into a submissive protection and a vain grasp for decency against his nudity.

Keven couldn’t stomach the look of utter horror that was on the omega’s face. Tears were spilling over his jutting cheekbones as muffled sounds of god near agony wheezed between his stuttering breaths.

Soya wanted to follow Keven in, he found himself holding a hand out with a soft whisper for her to wait. She didn’t need to see this.

“I’m not whatever you think I am.” Keven’s voice trembled as he methodically rolled his sleeve up to his elbow. The matching mark was held up for the omega to see.

“Don’t know how much of that day you remember, but your days of being bounced between harems and handlers are over.” Keven frowned as he glanced around the room, not a single blanket left for the omega to wrap up in. With that, he shrugged off his heavy coat and muttered an apology for the scent.

“You must be freezing.” the alpha muttered as the omega arched against his bonds and keened a desperate, muffled, cry from behind the mask. Keven’s approach was a torture to the kid, he was too wound up and disillusioned by fear to even realize that his body was wrapped in the fur lined, thick leather coat.

“Easy, now.” Keven rumbled through a purring growl, he slowly scented the stranger with his wrist’s gland. Rubbing his promise just under the omega’s jaw and along the harsh line of the muzzle. It must have been far too long since the kid had been scented by someone. His fear glazed eyes softened to a sightless glassy as he surrendered to the will of alpha. Stubborn tears still leaked from the corners of his eyes, wetting just behind his ears as they disappeared into his hairline.

“You’re safe now, Omega.” Keven hushed, “My wife and I are going to make sure of that.”

Without warning, the curtain opened with a flurry. The woman handler strutted in with her arm laden with things that didn’t seem to be civil to have in public. Soya followed behind, her face red with anger as her now shrill voice cursed the other woman in all three languages she knew. The once calming omega tensed back up at the sight of her, his restrained voice back to begging.

“The fuck do you think you’re doing?” Keven spat, baring his fangs when the wad of restraints were dropped on the gurney with the trapped omega.

“Helping.” she curtly snapped. “One, nine, zero, seven, five: severely aggressive, drug addict, just retrieved from case zero, five, eight, three, not to mention he’s already made three of my men bleed. And you green gills think you’re going to take him home and all will be fine.”

“You lot probably deserved it.” Keven retaliated, shoving the wad of metal and leather onto the floor at the woman’s feet.

“He is dangerous.” she hardened her voice.

“He is scared.” Keven fumed. The woman’s jaw audibly clicked under the strain she was grinding her teeth. After a long moment of staring up at Keven with nothing but boiling malice in her eyes she let out a long steady hiss.

“If I had the time, I’d have you put in a room for being hair trigger feral and obstructing me from doing my job. But. If you must learn the hard way.” She bent to lift the restraints with a clawed fist, straightening only to hold out the key for the cuffs. “I’m not risking my blood. Just get out of here and don’t expect help.”

“Oh.” she stopped at the doorway, “And. It’s illegal for you to remove the mask until he is contained. As in, you have to wait until you’re home.”

“I know the law.” Keven roared, “I’m a fucking enforcer.”

Soya gazed up at him with an accusing glare, “We have to leave that _thing_ on him?”

“Either until we get him home or cleared by a handler.” He huffed, pointing at the empty space that used to be the said handler. Soya let out a controlled sound that really wanted to be a scream, her face was ruby red once again as her dark irises burned through the curtain towards the path of the beta.

“I hate her.” she snipped, snorting to herself as she grumbled more than a few profanities under her breath.

“I know the Individual Protection and Accountability bullshit is supposed to be a cousin of mine in the enforcement, but to hell with all of them. They’ve been corrupted so much that they don’t even have the decency of pretending to be what they were established as. Hell, no one even calls them IPA anymore. They’re just _handlers_!” Keven vented as he paced to the farthest corner of the room, knowing fully well his rage wasn’t helping the bound omega.

“Oh, Sweetheart.” his wife’s voice cooed. The kid was hyperventilating pitifully through the mask, his eyes bugging out of his head as he struggled for air. Both of his wrists were torn now, ruby dripping down the harsh metal of the cuffs as his body arched unnaturally from his muscles seizing.

This was a panic attack that could quickly spiral into a drop, but it seemed like he was actively suffocating before their eyes. Without a second thought, Keven sat the kid up, asking Soya to support the minuscule weight. His claws found the zipper that was holding the leather to the kid’s face. Easily enough, it peeled away to reveal the gag beneath it: which was the reason for him not forming a single coherent word as of yet. The omega’s jaw was tense, biting down so that his teeth were embedding into the rubber of the gag.

“ I need you to relax.” Keven coaxed, rubbing his scent over the dark impression lines from the mask. “Come on, ease your jaw.” The alpha carefully caressed the omega’s lower lip, wedging his thumb’s talon between the man’s teeth.

“Just for a second. It’ll be easier to breathe.”

The omega mechanically eased each string of muscle in his jaw. At the first chance, Keven withdrew the dark hard rubber piece, and dropped the chewed, oblong shape to the floor.

“Why would they-” Soya spat from her rage rekindling.

“So they can’t bite their tongues.” Keven spoke flatly. Brushing his touch along the omega’s scruff, Keven pulled the man so that he was leaned against his own broad chest.

“Just breathe, alright?” the man was an omega, one that’s been neglected for hell knows how long. Even this simple gesture was something the kid desperately needed.

“We’ll give you a few minutes to catch your breath before we need to put the mask back on.” the broken gasp Keven’s words earned in response was heart wrenching. Soya hushed, her slender fingers interlacing with the omega’s strained fists.

“Can we uncuff him first?” she spoke so quietly that Keven was taken aback. She knew fully well that her husband wouldn’t be able to refuse her anything. Keven only nodded before carefully shifting the omega back down onto the gurney. The alpha held the smaller forearm still as he unhinged a metal cuff, which fell with a soft thump onto the thin mattress.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

His chilled face was soaked from sweat and tears. Despite being finally free of all restraint, he held his body tense and prone to the will of those around him. The last time he had been released, his panic caused him more suffering than help. If he could stay calm, stay passive, the ones around him might show him some mercy. There was an alpha here, he hadn’t seen an alpha in years. The only one he’s had the curse of meeting was a particularly brutal handler: “One such trainer reserved for very difficult cases.” Recently he had the misfortune of landing a couple of his hysteria fueled attacks, and now there was an alpha looming at his side. It didn’t take a genius to understand why he was there.

The coat was heavy where it sagged on him, the warmth of the fur lining feeling like the truest form of bliss. There was another omega at the alpha’s side, she was beautiful, if not a bit hot tempered. Her scent was clean and bright, like jasmine tea, compared to the alpha’s rich, power radiating aura of oak and wilderness.

If he behaved, maybe Alpha would grow bored, and he would be able to just go back to the regular suck that was the handler system.

The two were talking, but their words were jumbled to his mind. They both looked concerned, and the woman’s touches kept consistent and gentle. He hadn’t realized how much he missed the gentle side of humanity until it’s been dangled with teasing tendrils of affection being ghosted over his arm everywhere her light fingers wandered.

Perhaps she was pleased by how well he was behaving? Was this their reward system? Oh god. They had a reward system- which meant he _could_ do something right. He wouldn’t be lost in the tide of pain, punishment, and abandonment. All the torture would be easier to take if there was a chance of him being shown affection afterward.

The muzzle that smelled of blood and bile was replaced over his face. He couldn’t help the sob that painfully constricted his ribcage- that wasn’t his fault, they couldn’t punish him for that!

Hands were on him, an arm constricted around his side, and his muzzled face was pressed against the side of the alpha’s throat. The hold was tight, and it pained his bleeding wrist where it was trapped between his body and the alpha’s powerful chest; but the whole world slowed for a moment. The alpha was rolling that protective growl in his chest, the reverb of it physically vibrating throughout his much thinner body.

He hadn’t noticed the desperate noises that were scraping his throat raw and stealing the life giving air from his lungs until they were starting to die down. A strong, clawed hand cupped the back of his head, holding him against the alpha’s breast as small, dainty hands flitted through his soaked, knotted hair. They were both talking again, seemingly to each other at times, other times perhaps they were speaking to him. He could hardly make out his surroundings through the migraine.

The coat was wrapped properly around his bone frame, the length of it longer than he was tall. Slow, almost loving touches caressed over his face, and clawed fingers harmlessly rechecked the tightness of the mask.

“Just focus on breathing.” the dark voice of the commanding alpha curled in his ear, close enough so that the gentle breath of the words flooded the skin of his ear and neck with tingles. Alpha had seen that he wasn’t able to listen, wasn’t able to obey, so he used a command to cut through the painful haze.

He was told to breathe. Not to present, not to kneel, crawl, beg, scream: just breathe. He sucked a razor filled breath, the stench of the filthy mask assaulting his senses, but just underneath it was the heady, powerful scent of the alpha.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Soya lead the way down the hallway, her alpha husband in tow. The little omega in her husband’s arms was barely recognizable beneath all the layers the two had bundled him in. His eyes were hidden in the crook of Keven’s neck as a way of protecting him from the stares from ones they were passing.

That insufferable woman must have been busy running her mouth by the looks on the nurses’ faces. Betas subtly step in front of omega co-workers as Keven paid them no mind. His only concern was getting the kid out of here, and back to their home where he would have a chance to hide away from everything. Their redhead was calm for right now, but that was a thin, fraying tether on the verge of snapping at any moment.

Valet parking was a godsend as the bouncy, formally dressed omega pulled their car up just as they were breaching the hospital’s exit. Soya smiled her thanks, slipping the younger man a couple bills as he handed her the keys. Keven moved to the backseat of the SUV, slightly crowding the omega in the space as he carefully buckled him into the slippery leather seats. The redhead whimpered pathetically as he glanced around himself, still seeming confused by his surroundings.

“We’re going home.” Keven promised, seeing that the omega still couldn’t understand him. The shivers from the first command were still evident even in his tensed muscles, the alpha didn’t want to push him any harder.

“I’m sitting in the back with him.” Soya announced, Keven frowned his concern.

“Dove,” she rolled her eyes. “I’ll be okay, you’re right there anyway. Worst case scenario, you need to use a command.” As always, she had a point. So she got settled in the seat beside the still unnamed redhead and Keven slipped into the driver’s seat.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you, thank you for your continued curiosities!  
> Rage is for the comments~


	3. Uncharted Shelter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello my Ninjas!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The redhead was screaming his throat raw behind the muzzle as Keven tried to pull him from the car. Soya hissed at her husband, her eyes wild with confusion and hurt. The alpha placatively held up his hands for the two, bile reaching the back of his throat as he watched the frail omega try to curl himself deeper into the seat. 

“Soya, can you wait for us in the house?” Kev tried, earning a humorless bark of laughter. She set her jaw against another hiss as her thoughts whirred far too quickly for her voice to be able to keep up.

“He thinks we’re handlers.” he explained to the hurt look on his wife’s face. “Once he’s inside, it’ll be easier.” Soya’s mouth hardened into a line, her glare studying the much larger man. 

“Please, Babe.” Kev whimpered, “We’ll be right in, j’st want to get this over quick like a band-aid.” She didn’t look as if she approved of this, but she stepped out of the car and quickly paced over to the garage door to open it for them. 

The alpha placed a firm hold on the back of the omega’s scruff, not rendering him defenseless, but letting his body obediently slump into a fear fringed submission. Kev then pulled the omega so that he was leaning on his chest. Panic began to spark in the redhead all over again, causing Kev to tighten his grip around the straining body. He mumbled in the thin man’s ear, ignored the feeble arms that were trying to shove him away, and took the omega’s weight in his hold. 

The omega’s screaming was shrill and piercing as it echoed in the enclosed garage and rang in the alpha’s sensitive ears. Keven fought the growl that curdled in his throat, he could easily command the kid, his mate, into a silent submission. Instead, he clutched the kid with a crushing force and hobbled over to the doorway. 

Soya looked lost as she stood on the edges of the room. Now that they were safely inside, Kev set the struggling mate on their couch. The kid’s breath was heaving violently as he clutched at his own arms, trying to crush himself into an impossibly smaller ball.

“I’m going to find you some clothes.” Kev promised, finally letting his mate have the space he craved. Soya padded towards the redhead, her worried purr calling the other omega closer to her. By the time Kev had returned with the only set of sweatpants he had that were too small for himself, Soya and the redhead were tangled together on the couch: his head on her shoulder, and Keven’s heavy leather coat draped over the both of them. 

The alpha purred his arrival. The redhead whimpered, settling slightly as Soya cooed in his ear. Kev stood with his head lowered, as if asking for permission to impede on their puppy pile. Soya held out her arms, moving slowly to allow for the redhead to see her every intention as she took the clothes from her husband. 

“These are for you.” she murmured, failing to earn the smaller man’s fidgeting gaze. Despite her speaking to him, he kept staring up at the towering alpha. The look on his face clearly showing that he was expecting the worst from Keven’s presence. 

Keven sat on the couch so that the man was wedged between the married couple, his gentle fingers coming up to the muzzle once again. Kev didn’t say anything as he smoothed his scent gland over the hollow of the kid’s throat. It was a promise that he was safe. The little gesture whispering to the nearly forgotten primal mind of the omega that he was seen as part of the pack now. Alpha was here; alpha would protect. 

When instincts started to soften the paralyzing fear, his eyes returned to that glassy, detached look. That was when Keven took the chance to unzip the muzzle. The leather fell away as he took the heavy fabric in his over-sized palm. The omega’s lips were parted and bleeding from where he had been chewing his lower. His blood was almost the same hue as his hair, Keven wondered morbidly, raising a thumb to smear away the crimson trails. 

“Does that feel better?” he hushed, not missing how his nameless little mate was holding his breath again. 

“The clothes are for you.” Soya tried again, but she was once again left ignored. After a stretching silence, Keven took the young man’s jaw between his fingers, turning his head so that he was looking the alpha in the eye.

“We can give you some time alone.” he offered carefully, “You have a room upstairs, if you would like me to show it to you?” A spark of fear crossed his expression, but it quickly died down to a subdued surrender. 

“Unless you tell us, we won’t know.” Soya frowned, her touch lifting to his mused hair. She was simply fixing a few of the locks that were tangled from the mask’s grip, but the omega’s eyes nearly rolled to the back of his head in bliss.

“Touch starved.” Kev muttered, moving his hold so that he encased the entirety of the omega’s lower jaw in a cradling palm. “Gentle touches are probably long overdue for you, aren’t they?”

“We could curl up and finish that series we were powering through.” Soya offered, feeling the weight of the far too thin omega start to lean on her a bit more. 

“Should we do it upstairs?” Kev braved. “There would be more room, but I don’t know how you would feel about him in our bed.” 

“Upstairs would be perfect.” Soya chimed, “You are lying to yourself if you think he wasn’t going to end up there with us anyway.” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As Soya was helping the other omega dress, Keven pulled off his formal shirt. He was changing into something more fitting to sleep in when a timid touch froze him with his pants half on. Those bluebell eyes were locked onto the mark of Kev’s forearm. He had braved to approach, if not only to gawk at the tendrils. 

“I didn’t lie to you.” the alpha muttered, slowly pulling his sweats up the rest of the way and holding out his arm for the omega to inspect. It was as if his reveal earlier didn’t happen. The smaller man was tracing the lines with ice cold fingertips, his other hand ghosting over his own breast where his mark was lying, hidden under the thin, far too big, shirt. 

“Need to take out my contacts,” Kev announced softly, “Why don’t you go get comfortable?” 

“Name?” he muttered, eyes downcast and body tensed. The little word sent a spike of dread up Keven’s spine from the utter miserableness of his broken voice.

“Keven Direson.” he swallowed, “and there. That’s my wife, Soya.” 

“Wife…” the tiny voice shattered, tears brimming his lashes once again.

“What’s your name, little mate?” Keven tried to turn the kid’s attention back onto himself. Those chewed lips parted helplessly as he choked around the words lodged in his throat. Soya reached to take the omega’s hand, her voice hushing him, but he flinched back. Heavy tears streamed his face as he curled into himself, his fingers digging into his own shirt and is legs ready to give under his weight.

“I shouldn’t be here.” he spat, growing hysterical. “I’m sorry. I’ve ruined everything!” 

“Hey, who said that?” Keven couldn’t help the predatory rumble that seeped into his words. Alpha held himself back from clutching the omega, wanting nothing more than to keep him from escaping to the other side of the room.

“J’st a whore.” he growled at himself. “Don’t deserve it.” 

“Sweetie,” Soya whimpered, tears stinging her eyes as well, “We don’t hate you.” 

“I’ll just ruin your lives too!” the omega screamed, fumbling backwards until his back hit the wall. Before either of the other two could catch him, he turned to bolt out the doorway. His legs must have given out halfway down the staircase, judging by the resounding thuds of his body tumbling down the thinly carpeted stairs. Keven tore out the room, his knees snapping backwards in preparation of a shift by the time he landed from leaping off the top of the case. 

“Don’t move,” Kev growled, “Let me see.”The omega was dazed and had earned a few more bruises, but Kev couldn’t check him over properly. The redhead wasn’t making it any easier, either. His stubborn flailing and hateful remarks fought off Keven’s decreasingly gentle touches. 

“Hold still!” Kev commanded on a fed-up snarl. Instantly, he went still. His eyes were wide with terror as he was forced to allow the alpha to prod at his bruising flesh. 

“You’re okay,” the alpha muttered, “I know you’re stressed out, and no one can blame you for it, but you need to let us try to help.” Kev thumbed over the smaller’s knobby joints, studying the under-fed curves of his crumbling mate.

“Is everyone okay?” Soya’s voice called from the top of the stairs.

“Looks like it.” Kev frowned, “If you wanna’ pull down the bed, we’ll be right up.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Keven emerged from the attached bathroom with hair deflated and contacts out. Soya was lounged back in a throne of pillows. The skittish mate was missing. Kev turned on his heel to scan the room and tried to ignore that his hair wanted to stand on end.

“Easy, he had to run to the bathroom.” Soya patted the blankets at her side, her purr calling the alpha closer. Kev relented, the bed dipping under his weight as he crawled over her and captured her mouth in a commanding kiss. She was purring beneath him when he heard the stumbling omega return to the doorway.

He squeaked an apology, collapsing to his knees and baring his neck with tears in his eyes. Keven looked over the struggling omega, his heart breaking in his chest as Soya’s hands pushed him to get off of her.

“Don’t sideline him because of me.” She urged as she pointedly gawked at their redhead.

“What he needs as a mate… I don’t know if _we_ would survive.” Kev muttered. “This might be a mistake.”

“Direson, you dense gourd, that omega is _ours_ now.” Soya continued to harshly whisper. “Go get him, I’ll kiss him till he’s drunk if that’s what it takes!” Kev huffed at her words, pressing a final kiss to Soya’s nose as he pushed himself up from their bed. 

The kid whimpered as Keven closed the distance. His words were too mumbled and merged together for the alpha to be able to pick any of it apart. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Keven’s footsteps were only worsening the crushing force his rib cage was cinching around him. Air was mercury, thick and heavy as he suffocated under Alpha’s gaze. He shouldn’t have been there. The two were happily married, living their life blissfully without him. Seeing the both of them on their nest only solidified that in his mind. 

He needed to know if this was an elaborate hoax. While Soya was helping him dress he realized for the first time that he, himself, had a mate mark across his breast. He doesn’t remember getting it- which shouldn’t have been a surprise since he was losing so much time lately. It made the reason for the alpha to flash the inky twists before he had even introduced himself clear. They matched, they were the same markings. In the bathroom, he was trying to wash the tendrils off. He wanted to know if this was fabricated- a way for the two to falsely gain his trust. It didn’t wash off. He was actually ruining their marriage by just existing. 

Alpha was knelt before him. Glassy, almost pink, eyes held evenly with his own. That voice of his was deep and rhythmic, but fear clogged his attention. He couldn’t understand what he wanted, couldn’t grasp what he could see in someone as filthy as himself. Alpha’s touch was ghosting over the column of his throat, if he prayed really hard it was almost as if he was a lover. Warm breath flooded over the corner of his jaw, a murmur rumbled warmly, wordless and meaningless to his riddled mind, but it raised goosebumps nonetheless. 

The ground slipped away as he was lifted once again. Another set of hands were on him within seconds, his body was enveloped by the cotton nest that smelt strongly of the married couple. If they didn’t want him, if they thought he was as bad as he believed himself to be, they wouldn’t be bringing him to their nest. Tingles raised again, he was being scented by the woman this time. Her light, flowery aroma twisting with her husband’s thick and powerful. They smiled as they muttered to each other. 

He took a steadying breath, silently convincing himself that he had misunderstood their intentions. Kev had argued with the woman handler. The omega fluttering with a hot temper at his side wasn’t one of his assignments, she was a beloved wife that wasn’t kept on a choking leash. He was tied to the alpha according to some half maniacal god, although perhaps this could have turned out so much worse. For tonight- he could pretend this was where he belonged. 

“Sebastian.” He wheezed, the simple confession earning the dramatically different eye colors to focus on him. 

“Sebastian?” Keven echoed, tasting the name. Soya smiled, muttering a nickname already.

Sebastian, Ash as Soya called him, looked at peace between the two. Keven leaned over, kissing her temple, and promised for the umpteenth time that he loved her. She knew, the eyeroll she gave the alpha screamed that she had been convinced long ago. Ash may still be a stranger to the both of them, but she was already protective over him. She wanted nothing more than to see the man truly was: her husband was destined to be with Ash after all. She wanted to see her husband as happy as humanly possible, and if it meant making room in her heart and nest for one more- she would. It wasn’t nearly as hard as one would expect either. The kid was harmless, barely having enough strength to stand on his own for any period of time. His own shadow scared him, and he was on medication to help with something monsters had forced him into. She couldn’t help but wonder how much of this was him, and how much of it was the withdrawal messing with him. Ash could very well be a strong, resilient man beneath the broken shell of an omega. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sebastian woke with his head on the alpha’s chest. Kev was still sound asleep, the man’s ribs rising and falling with every deep, unbothered breath. Silver stubble had grown on his chin, his face slackened, and his arm heavy on the omega’s side. Through the ache of Sebastian’s joints and the pulsing migraine between his brows: this felt normal. Laying here with the alpha was natural, despite the history he had with such beasts. 

Keven wasn’t the same kind of beast, the omega chastised himself. Alpha was good, and kind, and here. They were bound together, and he had willingly let Sebastian into his home, into his nest. He couldn’t have been a bad guy. 

Soya wasn’t in bed with them. Her side was messed as though she had spent the night there, but it had since grown cold. Perhaps, there was a chance that she was an early riser? Sebastian had to fight back the creeping guilt and souring stomach that he had been driving her from her own nest. 

Early. Riser. 

Instead of panicking, he tried to focus on tracing the mark on his mate’s forearm with a finger. He was warm and safe: two things he hadn’t experienced since… since when? It had to have been before he was thrust into the handler’s grasp. Sadly, he couldn’t pinpoint the exact time he had fallen out of the “protection” of the handlers and into the harem. He was told they had found a foster, a temporary place for him to stay until he got onto his feet. The next thing he knew were claws in his scruff and a needle in his arm. 

Keven wasn’t like that. _Here_ wasn’t like that. The arm around his waist tightened, and a kiss was pressed to the crest of his forehead. Sebastian’s cheek was soaked from silent, heavy tears,the exact ones Keven moved to wipe away. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“What’s on your mind?” Keven’s voice was thick from sleep, but the omega at his side needed him: he’d make due. With two glances, he took note that it was almost noon, and that Soya had already gotten up for the day. Sebastian stopped the neurotic pattern of tracing the lines of his forearm in favor of gripping onto his sleeping shirt. 

“Sorry. Did I wake you?” Sebastian’s voice was airy, wheezing through a sore throat. He must have blown his voice during all of the chaos of yesterday.

“No, don’t even worry, lazy me needs to get up anyway.” the alpha one handedly hugged him again, pressing another kiss, this time further into Sebastian’s hairline. Despite his personal hype, Kev made no move to actually follow through with getting up. 

“Everything hurts.” Little mate admitted. Keven’s groaned an apology, promising that they had the prescription downstairs. 

“Medicine?” the omega wondered, his petal like irises finally finding his alpha’s face. 

“Yeah, we’re getting you off that god forsaken drug. I know it’s going to be hard, but you’re gonna’ beat this.” the alpha promised, this time finding enough motivation to sit up. “Stay here if you’d like, I’ll be right back.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


	4. Intertwined

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello my Ninjas!
> 
> Yes I know I'm late. Completely forgot to post this before work.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Keven hobbled down the staircase closer to one in the afternoon than noon. His dark hair was disheveled at best, lending himself to look more feral than usual as he crossed the kitchen floor to pin Soya against the counter.

“Hello, there.” a faux anger dripped dangerously into the words, “You escaped.” 

“And this surprises you?” she bantered back with a smirk. “How’d you sleep?” Keven’s sigh flooded over Soya’s scalp, sending waves of gooseflesh down her arms. The two were happily in each others arms for a moment, Keven scenting his wife all the while.

“Where’s the kid’s medicine again?” the alpha eventually rumbled, his glass pink eyes landing on the buffet lunch Soya had prepared. “What’s all this?”

“When is the last time Ash had honest meal?” Soya popped her lips, waving for Kev to get out of her way. 

“He’s not your pup, you know this, right?” the alpha snorted.

“I suppose you can eat too, Mr. Jealous.” She rolled her eyes, pointing the chopsticks in her hand up to the top of the staircase, “Am I bringing food up, or are you bringing him down?” 

“Can we give him a few minutes for this shit to kick in? He’s pretty miserable right now.” Keven muttered as he fumbled with the pharmacy capped bottle, his emotion showing through a bit more than he realized as he slowly let out his controlled breath. Soya’s heart clenched in her chest, and her watery smile faltered slightly. 

“Go on, take care of our boy.” she muttered into her work, “I still need some time down here anyway.” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He didn’t know which of the two were going to drive him crazy first: the persistent aches in each of his joints, or crawling, itching sensation of bugs burrowing just under the surface of his skin. Sebastian was caught in a cold sweat, ruining the nest beneath him as he waited for the alpha to return. He still couldn’t believe that he was here, and that he was so openly welcomed into a complete stranger’s home. 

It was safe here, at least that is what he had been promised multiple times. Sebastian never thought that was a thing he would be able to feel again. After being sucked under the rip tide of society and written off as a lost cause, it was a miracle that anyone would want to put up with his existence. Hell, they seemed to  _ want  _ him around. 

Keven’s warm rumble that was his voice returned. Sebastian forced to crack his eyes open, despite the painfully bright morning, was it morning?, light. A large hand cupped the base of the omega’s skull, the alpha’s movements slow and deliberate as he positioned Ash to be sitting up. 

“Know it sucks.” Kev chuckled humorlessly, “Soya’s getting a feast ready downstairs, we’ll be able to eat whenever you feel up to it.” Ash obediently took the pills, quickly falling in love with the feeling of fresh water on his hoarse throat. 

He shouldn’t be so greedy. Keven is a married man, he’s just here out of pity for a helpless, pathetic omega. Despite that, the feel of Keven’s touch was so addictive, the absolute gentleness of such a huge beast made Ash’s nerves cry out for more. A whimper even managed to wheeze from his tightly grit teeth. 

“Here, come sit in my lap.” Keven’s words knocked the air from Ash’s lungs. The fragile omega stuttered helplessly as he apologized for things he never committed. Ignoring the smaller’s attempts, alpha sounded like he was purring as he propped himself back against the headboard. Patiently, he held out his arms as an invitation for Ash to scooch closer. 

“C’mere.” Kev growled affectionately when it was clear that Ash wasn’t moving anytime soon. Ignoring the knot in his throat, Sebastian placed himself between the alpha’s thighs, finding that those tree limb like arms wanted nothing more than to encase him. Ash’s cheek fell naturally onto the monster’s breast. The nearly invisible stubble on Keven’s chin was rough against the omega’s scalp as he nuzzled against the top of his head. 

“You’re taking this so well, proud of you.” Kev muttered, their legs now entangled with each other as the two quickly became little more than a knot atop the nest. Ash didn’t believe the praise, but he still preened under it. If alpha thought he was good, than he must be doing something right. Or… At least he won’t be punished any time soon. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Soya almost burned the tilapia from her utter distraction because of the two upstairs. Eventually the mating would take effect on their hormones, they’ll each end up insatiably chasing after the other. Possibly leaving her to deal with the scents of their rutt and heat until they come back to their senses. 

It was a selfish thought, but she wondered if she would be able to get away with it: what if she was the first to have Sebastian? Not that she wanted to have him  _ in her _ , she just wanted to be there to see his delicious little expression when he plummets over the edge of his ecstasy. Perhaps she would get the lovely high of knowing she was a part in the cause of his said ecstasy. Of course, that would be far too selfish to wish. 

Instead, she braced herself to combat the jealousy that she feared would bubble in her system when she ultimately sees Ash tangled with Keven. Soya was only going to bring up food, and they were going to eat together. They were going to have a good time, and get to know each other better. The mantra rang steadily in her head as she scaled the stairs. The bowls were warm and growing hotter where they were balanced in her palms as she approached the bedroom. With bated breath, she toed the ajar door open. 

There her boys were. Keven propped back against the headboard, his glass eyes already fixed on her as she forgot to paint on a faux smile. In Keven’s arms, laying in the alpha’s lap with his head drunkenly slumped onto Kev’s bicep, Sebastian looked comfortable for the first time since she had met him. Jealousy didn’t take her by storm, warmth did. The two fit together like puzzle pieces, and she would have the joy of toying with the two of them. Knowing and loving them both: because she and Keven were inseparable, and now the other half of her life’s love had finally arrived. The smile she wore while approaching them was nearly anything but faked. 

“You looked concerned,” Kev tipped his head in question. Ash shifted slightly as Soya sat herself on the edge of the bed. 

“I’m better now,” She swallowed, seeing the fear spark deep within those azure irises, “How are you feeling, Ash?” He turned into the alpha’s chest. His boney fingers digging into Keven’s sleeping shirt and his breath beginning to stutter once again. 

“None of that now.” Kev chided in a gentle voice. Sebastian’s focus locked up to the alpha’s face. Ash looked as if he was drawing all of his strength from Keven himself. 

Lunch was a quiet affair. Soya ate effortlessly with her chopsticks while Sebastian struggled to not drop forkful after forkful onto his lap. Keven hushed every time a sorrowful whine would start deep in the omega’s chest. The alpha was holding himself back from hand feeding the strained omega. The implications of such domination would be worse than just needing to change the cover sheet on the bed. Except as time bled by, Sebastian only grew more hysterical. 

“Give,” the alpha rumbled, frowning as he watched Sebastian flinch and deflate into himself. Soya watched the two as they silently tried to come to an understanding. Ash’s hooded eyes stayed diverted and laced with shame as he held the colorful rice bowl up for the alpha to take. 

“You need to eat.” Kev explained slowly, “If you want, I can-” Ash whimpered, throwing his legs off the edge of the bed and escaping to the empty space of the floor.

“Sweet heart.” Soya stood to chase him, Ash stumbled back until he found support from the far wall. 

“Just give me back. You’re going to anyway.” Sebastian hissed, “Stop playing nice, this is just fucking cruel!” 

“We aren’t going to do that to you.” Soya choked on her words, tears stinging her eyes as she blankly grasped for ways to console the omega. 

“Sebastian, you’re going to drop if you don’t catch your breath.” Keven slowly unfolded his legs from under himself, muscles laced with deadly predatory tension. He was ready to pounce the breaking omega. Ash didn’t know if he would survive such a collision. 

“Maybe I’ll die, that would be easiest for everyone involved, wouldn’t it?” the redhead continued to hiss, but his knees were starting to buckle, he was about to go down. 

“You are not going back to the handlers.” Keven growled, a command slipping into the tone of his voice. “You don’t have to stay here, but I promise, you will never be back in that corrupted system.” Soya glided silently across the floor, her gentle touch scaring a yelp from Sebastian’s throat. She purred desperately, her wide dark eyes fidgeting on his precious stone blue. 

“I’m sorry.” He muttered, barely over a whisper. His sunken cheeks and hollow eyes made him look just a breath away from death. Stress wrinkled his forehead, and bone thin hands clenched clawlessly into the wall. Keven eased up from the mattress, his much heavier steps causing the floor to creak.

“C’mere.” the alpha held out his arm. 

“You’re asking the impossible.” Ash growled, if he wasn’t so weakened he would have found a way to escape by now.

“I’know.” Keven sighed. “Trust is a thing we need’t earn.” Sebastian screwed his eyes shut, his teeth grinding against the hell that was racing in his mind. 

“You’re going to be okay.” the alpha’s voice was back to that soothing rumble, the kind of tone that made someone like Ash want to melt into the beast’s embrace.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sebastian was silent in his room. This was the first time he had even seen it or has had a chance to have moments to himself. Keven and Soya were downstairs in the living room. Of course, she was nervous that the room was not good enough, but Kev quickly distracted her with a gentle kiss to the hairline and a playful, sneaky nibble along her neck. 

“He needs time.” Soya spoke to herself more than to the alpha. Kev only hummed his agreement. His breath flooding over her shoulder as he smiled into her scent. 

“I love you.” he purred, “You’re amazing, I’m so lucky… without you here, I wouldn’t know the first thing to do.” 

“He’s going to want to have sexy times with you.” she grinned devilishly. 

“Been trying to not think too hard on it.” the alpha huffed. “Of course, with all the things you read- you might be into the thought of me with a guy.” 

“ _ My reading has nothing to do with this _ .” she waved in faux innocents. “This is about the three of us figuring this out.” 

“You wanna’ join?” Kev’s voice turned into something a bit more heady than anything Soya’s heard from him in a very long time, the hairs on her neck standing on end as she grinned wider. 

“You wouldn’t know the first thing about having two omegas.” She bantered, poking firmly on  his clavicle. 

"There was that time in college." Kev shrugged, the lie blatant by how he could not keep a straight face.

“Damien, right?” she chirped, flustering her husband even more.

“Okay, hold on. In your little fantasies between Sebastian and I, who exactly is on top?” Keven squeaked, nearly jolting to the other side of the couch away from the ever grinning Soya.


	5. Strife

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a fair warning, this and the next one has elements of self harm. This isn't as bad as the next, just keep that in mind when moving forward.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Keven was the first one to be brave enough to knock on the omega’s bedroom door. He didn’t get an answer at first, which raised a worried tick in the back of his mind: but he hoped that maybe Sebastian had only fallen asleep. The alpha took a second to calm himself, needing to soften his scent before infiltrating the skittish omega’s space. Sebastian’s been up here for hours now, the sun was setting and he hadn’t even come out for a drink of water. 

The room was eerily quiet with Sebastian laying on his side on top of the twin bed, the blankets unmoved beneath him. His red hair crumpled in a knotted bun near the top of his head. Long strands collected on the carpeting beside the bed. His blue eyes locked to the alpha from behind thin lashes. His arms crossed over his chest, nails digging into the meat of his biceps. 

“Just checking on you.” Kev explained softly, unable to put together everything he was seeing. The omega had tears trying on his cheeks, his eyes squinted from being swollen. Keven swallowed his nerves, pacing into the room and praying his scent wouldn’t cause the distressing omega any further.

“You aren’t trapped in here, Sebastian.” the alpha tried while holding out his wrist for the smaller man to inspect. The omega gripped his arms tighter. It looked painful- the way he curled into himself. 

“If you would rather I leave.” Kev offered, cutting himself short when a whimper wheezed from the omega’s sore throat. The medication must have worn off hours ago, but when they didn’t hear anything from him, they figured he was doing okay. The couple had hoped their new partner was at least resting peacefully. It didn’t look like he had slept at all. 

Keven closed the distance, his bulkier weight causing the small bed to dip exaggeratedly. Sebastian only lazily blinked up at the alpha, his scent spiraling out of control with fear and pain. The alpha slowly let his fingertips run over the omega’s white knuckles. His rolling growl purred in his chest as he leaned closer. The thin omega whimpered again, but allowed for his hands to be pulled away from their holds. Holes had been bored into his upper arms, more than just where he was recently holding. Keven cursed his confusion as he gawked over the bleeding limbs. 

“Why did you- what happened?” the alpha ultimately snapped in a harsher voice than he intended. The redhead shook his head, moving to replace his nails into flesh, but Keven tightened his hold on those thinner wrists.

“Talk to me, Little Mate.” Keven all but begged, “Is it the withdrawal? Does it feel like bugs under your skin?” Sebastian nodded stiffly as tears welled on his lashes. Keven shook his head sympathetically. It took very little effort to coax Sebastian into leaning on the alpha. His head once again fell naturally onto Keven’s chest as the alpha pulled his omega’s limbs in closer.

“I’m bringing you downstairs. We’re getting you more of that medicine, and we’re going to get some food in you, okay?” His breath flooded over Sebastian’s scalp as he spoke. Goosebumps raised on the omega’s arms, but it was hard to know if it was from Keven or from the unbearable itching. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sebastian was fed and content on the downstairs couch, curled up with Soya. The house’s alpha paced uneasily around the perimeter of the home, his muscles aching to shift as he weaved in and out of the house and studied every detail of his land. Soya was used to seeing this with Keven since he was an alpha, but Sebastian clung just that much tighter to her. Kev was unnerving him in the worst way. A predator that Sebastian has had only horrible experiences with was currently stalking the room. Soya hushed him consistently. Her hand in his hair may have been the only tether keeping him still in the living room. 

“Kev just wants to protect us.” she muttered, her dark eyes full of love. Sebastian’s sight was locked onto the towering man. His irises were an unnatural looking pale without the concealment of the contacts. The utter hue-less tone of his skin was made more prevalent by the darkening of his hands and wrists from the half shift. His mate mark was even slightly concealed by the shifting shades. 

“What’s happening?” Sebastian muttered. She continued to hush him leading his head down to her shoulder before even trying to answer.

“Keven’s an alpha, as you know. They just… have more instincts than betas.” she smiled as she shrugged her lack of power in the situation. “He won’t hurt us. You’re hurting, and he cares about you. Take this as a compliment from his wolf.” The redhead groaned, turning his head so that his eyes were hidden in Soya’s shirt. They two stayed curled together, Keven pacing nervously most of the while. Every so often he would nose over. His claws fully shifted but gentle as he pawed at his omegas and questioningly whined. Each time he came to them, Soya whispered gently and pressed a kiss into the giant’s palm. After that Keven seemed satiated enough to return to his patrolling route.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ash jolted awake in the dead of the night. Soya was missing, her warmth and scent replaced by one radiating true power. A dark voice hushed him before he realized he was struggling. Strong arms curled around him, cupping him against a solid torso. Keven’s eyes were glowing red in the dim light, his pearl like fangs bucked from being too big for his mouth. Still, he moved slowly. His dominant growl didn’t hold the malice it had the potential for. 

This beast truly saw him as a mate. Little Ash was important to someone outside of being a way of making money, or just being a form of entertainment. Keven saw him as a person that he cared enough for that his wolf would act up at the sight of him struggling. Now he carried himself pointedly harmless. His lengthened ears folded back as his slightly squashed nose twitched with every subtle change in the omega’s scent. 

With the omega’s silent permission, Keven moved fluidly to the upstairs and into their nest. Soya was already there. The omega woman was curled around a pillow, her eyes drooping as sleep tried to reclaim her as well. She drunkenly purred when the two entered the room, holding out a half limp arm as Keven moved to set Ash on the mattress. Within seconds the two omegas were curled into each other once again. Soya’s scent of fresh air and jasmine calmed every ounce of panic that tried to surge in Ash’s veins. Demons from the pace danced along the edges of his awareness as Keven’s weight settled into the bed. A rumble seemed to have permanently settled in his lungs, reverberating with every breath. Gently his arms loosely draped over the omegas and his long legs tangled with whoever’s got into the mix.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ash woke in the center of the puppy pile with his stomach in knots and the urgent need to get out of there. Nausea gripped his throat and kept him from being able to speak. Clumsily, he floundered from the cuddling octopus holds the couple had him entwined in, barely making it to the hallway before tasting bile. Shakily, he shouldered through the bathroom door and collapsed at the toilet. Keven stumbled in a sleepy drunk haze, his usual grace completely gone as he crowded the bathroom’s doorway. 

“You good?” He slurred, needing to lean on the door jamb for an extra moment before he braved to step into the cramped space with the fragile occupant. Slowly Keven laid a hand on Sebastian’s shaking shoulder. The omega flinched, an apologetic groan being the only noise he could muster. Alpha hushed him, lowering himself to his knees beside Ash. The omega’s face was flushed nearly as hue-less as the alpha’s. His cheek pressed against the chilled lid as shivers wracked his thin frame. 

“I can get you some cold water.” Keven weakley smiled at the stubborn way Ash held his jaw. When Ash tried to stand, his legs gave out from under him. Kev rushed to catch him, leading to the both of them fumbling to the icy tile. The larger man apologized profusely as he scrambled to get off of Ash. 

Keven tried to get Sebastian to allow himself to be carried, but refused. The redhead stood on his own despite how strong gravity seemed at that moment. Soya was sat up in their bed. The slight pout in her lips shown of how Keven must have just told her to stay put. The glare softened when she laid her eyes on the other omega. 

“Not feeling so hot?” Soya cooed as she reached out to help him back into bed. “Gods, you’re burning up, Ash.” Kev announced he would be right back, disappearing through the doorway as Soya tried to set Ash up in their nest. 

“I’m not strong enough to beat this.” Sebastian hissed. Anything that the other omega had said was lost. He abruptly slapped into his own arm, flinching hard and smacking at the same place once again. 

“What the fuck is it?” he screeched, his claws digging into his scab riddled flesh. Blood pooled under his nails as he struggled against Soya’s attempts of stopping him. 

“Nothing’s there.” she cried.

“Yes there is!” he bit back, “What is it? Why- it won’t stop.” He reached to a lower part of his arm, clawing into the soft meat of his forearm.

“Sebastian, there’s nothing there, I promise.” Soya was on the verge of tears by the time Keven heard the commotion. His powerful voice boomed in the airy space, bringing both omega’s attentions to him.

“You’re just hurting yourself.” Kev rumbled, holding a glass of water in one hand and medications in another. 

“You’re just drugging me so I’ll be an obedient little omega. What makes you guys so different from the others?” the venom in Ash’s words didn’t reach his eyes. He was suffering and under the thumb of that drug. Keven had to remember that. This wasn’t the true Sebastian. 

“It’s going to be alright.” the alpha let his voice dip into a command. Sebastian visibly curled into himself, his wrists falling limp in Soya’s grasps. Keven’s frown deepened when he saw the fresh marks on his mate’s arms. Soya was shaking even though she was doing her best to keep herself together. The alpha sighed as bewilderment crossed his expression for the faintest of seconds. 

“Why don’t you go make some tea, Love?” He decided. Soya didn’t even answer him, she just slid off the side of the bed and escaped into the hallway. The alpha waited for her to be gone before he motioned towards the glass of water in his hand.

“These will help,” Kev sighed, “Please don’t make me use another command.”

“Like I’ve ever had a fucking choice.” the redhead hissed. He begrudgingly took the pills, glaring daggers at Keven as he did. Keven didn’t have much he could really say to that. Sebastian could go without the help, but he was having a hard enough time wading through this. “I promise this is only temporary.” the alpha finally gathered enough of his thoughts. “Sebastian, I want to get to know the real you- not the one those fucks wanted you to be.” 

The redhead curled into the blankets around him. He seemed to believe if he tried hard enough he would be able to conceal himself fully from the world. Keven knew the feeling of not wanting to deal with everything at the moment, but Ash looked so beaten down- he couldn’t bring himself to give the omega the space he clearly craved. His large frame slid into place, his back against the headboard. 

“Does my scent help?” Kev asked offhandedly as a way to ignore his own clawing impulse to cradle the omega. He earned a half grunt. After a moment of stillness, the redhead ever so slowly crawled closer. His cheek laid on Keven’s muscular thigh, the alpha’s fingers threading through the tangled locks. 

“Don’t think this means I forgive you.” Ash ground out, pointedly trying to not acknowledge what he was doing. Keven couldn’t help the chuckle that bubbled up, but it was quickly cut short by the feeling of dull teeth biting into his thigh. Incredulously, the alpha used every ounce of his self control to not throw the omega off of himself. 

“Don’t act so smug.” Kev growled out, moving his palm so that it encased the back of the omega’s scruff.

“Done with people laughing at me.” Sebastian retorted. Despite his bravado, the omega’s thin body tensed under Keven’s palm. He knew what could easily happen, and it terrified him.

“I just found you endearing.” the alpha let his thumb massage into the base of the omega’s skull. He was slowly trying to work the ever present stress from the little one’s shoulders. “Promise, it wasn’t at you. Just found it… I don’t know.” 

Sebastian stayed quiet. Methodically his eyes hooded as he succumbed to Keven’s ministrations. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I’m sorry.” Sebastian choked later on in the day. “I shouldn’t have said that to you two.” The three were sitting at the dining room table just finishing up the evening’s meal. Soya quickly tried to disregard the gesture, saying that it wasn’t Ash’s fault. Keven just mercifully took the apology at face value. 

“I owe the both of you so much.” Sebastian continued, still pushing food around his plate. He refused to meet either one's eye. “I don’t have anything to offer.” Keven cut the conversation there, seeing where his mate’s mindset was leading him. Soya stuttered  her response but was also cut off. The alpha circled the table, took Sebastian’s jaw in a hold and pressed a commanding kiss to his startled lips.

It worked in the way it completely blanked the omega’s mind. Keven pulled back, still holding the smaller in a hostage like grip. His glassy eyes were painted with the alpha’s red. His pale lips held a firm line of seriousness that sent jolts of near panic down Ash’s spine. Keven dragged a deep sniff of the redhead’s scent. The warm wind of the beast’s breath flooding over the base of Ash’s neck. 

“Don’t speak of my mate like that.” Keven warned: his sight burning into Sebastian. The omega stuttered for a moment, his throat closing around the apology lodged in his trachea. The alpha stayed still for a long moment to let his mate regather his thoughts. 

Sebastian scrambled to help Soya clear the table. He kept profusely complimenting her cooking, and insisting that she should go sit down. He needed them to let him help out a little. The limp in is step wasn’t missed by anyone, despite how Sebastian tried his hardest to conceal it. The ache in his joints had started to act up again- another symptom of the drug leaving his system. Sebastian leaned more on the counter than necessary as he carefully cleaned the plates. Most of the pots were already done before they even got the chance to sit to eat, so the workload was smaller than it could have been.

Keven had his phone up to his ear before either of the omegas even realized it was ringing. His brows instantly met over his nose as he excused himself to the other side of the room. Soya had a knowing look on her face, but Sebastian blinked dumbly at the sight. 

“Work.” she said simply with a watery smile. 

“Yeah.” Kev cracked his neck with a shift clearly simmering under his skin. “Gotta’ go knock a few heads together. Be back in a few hours.” He took the stairs two at a time as he disappeared to get dressed.  Sebastian made a pitiful sound in the back of this throat as he glanced between Soya and the now empty hallway.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


	6. Lost Controll

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello my Ninjas!
> 
> Okay, two things. One. TRIGGER WARNING for self harm. It gets pretty intense. Two. (and not related, don't panic) I will not be posting next week. As I'm sitting right now I'll need to take a week off of writing to get some things straight between work and school, and I just don't know if I'll be able to write enough for there to be an update. 
> 
> So next week, don't panic. I'll be back.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sebastian didn’t quite look right as he sat in the living room. His eyes seemed a bit more dissociated than the usual staring off at the television kind of gaze. Soya started to wonder if he needed another dose. Kev was going to offer it, but work had called before he had the chance. She worried her lip as she stood unnoticed by the entrance of the kitchen. The television was on low, nearly inaudible mumbling of a news channel rhythmically filling the quiet home.

“Would you like something to drink?” she settled with starting with something easy. He didn’t even fidget his sight towards her: it was like he was trapped elsewhere. Now that Soya was watching a bit closer- he wasn’t even watching the tele. His eyes were fixed on a blank portion of the wall. 

“S...sebastian?” She stuttered, pacing into the room. Maybe he was lost in thought? Tears brimmed his lashes, and his lower lip was caught between his teeth. Soya whimpered her arrival carefully. Her movements slow as to not startle the other omega. 

“What if the person I become isn’t the one you wanted?” Ash growled when he finally flickered his attention to her, “You know nothing about me.” 

“Ash, Sweetie.” Soya started but squeaked when Sebastian bolted towards her from his spot on the couch. 

“Don’t _Sweetie_ me!” he snapped. The omega looked feral by the way he held himself. He kept clawing into the same point of his forearm, and his jaw was clicking from the force he was grinding his teeth. “You don’t know me. I’m not part of your marriage. A monster like me doesn’t even belong here!” The absolute pity that filled Soya’s heart must have enraged the distressed omega more. He shoved at her, his thin frame scrambling backwards before falling to the hardwood floors from the effort. The petite woman tried to chase after him. Her voice chiming in another language as she asked if he was okay in her panic. 

Sebastian hissed a hollow sound as he swatted at her hands when she reached out. He had to be caged in a mindset of fight because of the way he rolled onto all fours and lunged at her. Soya couldn’t backpedal fast enough to evade him. Ash quickly caught her leg, pulling her down to the floor and gripping her silk black hair.

“What right do you have to my mate?” He spat as he screamed. The feral omega’s pupils weren’t even, foam had settled at the corner of his mouth, and he relentlessly ripped at Soya’s hair. The woman landed a solid punch to Sebastian’s jaw in the chaos. She wiggled from under him, kicking at his chest until she was able to get to her feet. Without wasting time, she ran through the front door of the home and left the gasping omega in their living room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

She was gone, he had effectively driven her out of her own home. Sebastian was still curled in the fetal position where she had left him. His thoughts haunted him, most of them turning on him and calling him the monster.  

What the actual fuck had he done?

He had hurt Soya: Keven’s first love. He’s just some whore that happened to be on a job of Keven’s, not someone overly important. Not someone Keven had spent hell knows how long to court and fall for. He had a mythical tattoo that could easily be ignored. Sebastian was definitely going back to the handlers now. If he wasn’t before- he is now. 

They were going to assign him to an alpha over something like this. He was going to be kept in that cage again, he was going to be _trained_ again. Ash thought he was finally out of that when he was smuggled over to the harem house! The chains were easier to take than the cages because he had that bliss of the high. Just act up a little and they would give that heavenly dose of vein searing escape. 

They wanted him off the drugs here, giving him the veil that everything was going to be okay. If he behaved, everything would be fine. Behaving was no longer an option he had. The demons in his head convinced him that Soya was playing the good little housewife so that she would be able to keep his alpha. How could another omega love him? He could barely convince the pimp that he could have been of use. Keven was going to choose Soya over him any day. There wasn’t even a question there. 

In a fit of panic and rage he had single handedly ruined what might have been his only chance of a few weeks of peace. Maybe if he had just kept his fucking hands to himself he would have been able to conjure enough memories of feeling safe and loved. He would have been able to escape to them long after he’s been thrown to the side. No, of course not: because he has to go ahead and screw everything up all the time!

Sebastian couldn’t go back. 

Everything about that place scared him, they wanted every bit of him broken and they had just about succeeded. He didn’t know what was him and what was the supposed withdrawal that everyone kept giving him as an excuse. What if he really was just a bad person? Things like this don’t happen to good people- that had to be against karma or something. Ash must have done _something_ to bring this upon himself. 

He couldn’t go back. His spirit wouldn’t survive another round of that hell. His sanity was already in the sewage. His left arm was tingling cold, the source of it spreading from the gaping hole he had unwittingly bored into the bend of his arm. Blood dripped onto the pristine wooden floors, staining the thin carpet that laid partly under their sofa. Remorse quickly spiked his veins as he tried to grasp at the profuse bleeding. 

He’s attacked Soya, and now he’s ruining their home? Ash was digging himself into a deeper hole, even when he had no hope of having a way to crawl out. Soya wasn’t around, it wasn’t like he would be able to apologize. It wasn’t like they would believe him if he said he was sorry anyway. He snapped earlier, apologized. Now he’s snapped even worse: a simple _I’m sorry_ wasn’t going to mean shit!

Before Ash knew what he was doing, he was hobbling up the staircase and heading towards the hall bathroom they had given him permission to use before. The fact he was becoming dizzy didn’t worry him nearly as much as the fact he was staining everything red. Ruining their entire home, dripping the entire way up the carpeted stairs and painting a morbid sight in the small porcelain sink; Sebastian couldn’t do anything about it without causing more destruction. Out of pure distress, a sob rattled his chest. He fumbled into the bathtub as a last resort to contain himself. 

He couldn’t bring himself to stop crying. Everything was too cold around him, but he didn’t dare to turn on the water. Wasting even more of what the couple had on him, when he’s done so much wrong already. He didn’t deserve to be comfortable. He didn’t deserve to be here at all! If they had just left him in that harem, things would have sucked, but he would be fine. 

Ash would have his heroin to fall back on.

That thought froze the omega. If they lashed out, even just a little, the pimps would drug them. His body still wanted that fucking drug. His body and thoughts were turning on him, pushing him so that the twisted side of his soul could get it’s fix. 

No, no- gods Sebastian didn’t want to live like that! If the couple truly wanted to help him, he just spit right in their faces. Gods fuck: he didn’t want to face that alpha handler again. Keven’s one of the rare good alphas. One that isn’t consumed by bloodthirst and the drive of mating anything that moved. Hell, Kev’s an _alpha._ It shouldn’t be surprising that he has someone he’s already fallen for, it’s in his dominating, darkly commanding blood. 

Balled in the basin of the tub, Sebastian stared with mostly glazed sight down at his wounds. His arms looked as if he had just gotten into a fight with a feral cat. Some of the scratches were deep, others were superficial red raised lines. He itched so bad, it wasn’t just his arms, however. His legs, his back, his _face_ : everything itched as if something was crawling just beneath his skin. 

The others tried to convince him it was all in his head. It would fade away if he took his medication, it wouldn’t last forever once the symptoms of withdrawal leave him. It felt real, it felt too real to just be in his mind. They never looked. They never checked to see if there wasn’t something there. 

As if on cue, something darted across one of the wounds. Ash’s blood froze. He was paralyzed in place as he watched in horror as things were physically darting under his skin. Thousands of little legs, long- centipede like bodies: under his skin, eating his muscles. That had to have been why his joints were hurting so badly!

If he could get one out, if he could capture one of them and show it to them whenever they come in for him, maybe they’ll go easier on him? They might show him more mercy if they see what he’s suffering though, perhaps they’ll even blame the whole scene with Soya on the bugs. He can’t stay stable with these things in him- _no one would be able to_! With a plan in place, Sebatian scrambled for the shaving razor that was on the shelf’s ledge. The pink handle cracked between his fists and he was able to dislodge the blades. His fingertips did not survive the process, but it was a small price to pay to not need to go back to the handlers. 

Sebastian was going to be able to stay here, or die trying. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Keven was met in the driveway by Soya and their neighbor. Soya spoke way too fast for anyone to be able to understand her, their neighbor had to translate. Kev didn’t even wait for the whole story, he stomped up the front porch and almost forgot to unlock the door before shouldering it open. 

The scent of blood was one he never wished to smell in his home. Distress, blood, and panic overrode every other scent in the generous space. Not even the dominating, long term resident, alpha’s scent could pierce through the haze. Calling the redhead’s name conjured nothing, but ruby trails on the floor lead the alpha right to where he was. 

He looked every ounce of insane. The bathroom something out of a horror movie as Sebastian feverishly sliced into the top of his forearm. His cries were out of desperation more than pain, the alpha felt the surge of shifting- but miraculously kept it back. Every single word that he formed was a command, however.

“Sebastian, stop.” Keven screamed, fighting back another pulse to shift. “What are you doing? What the fuck is all this!?” 

“Under… bugs. I see them. I’ll show you… let me-” the redhead hiccuped between sobs, his arms shaking as his grasp on the razor tightened. He was fighting the commands. 

“They aren’t real.” the alpha pleaded as he fell to his knees at the bath’s side. “Let me see. Fuck, just lean back would you?” Kev didn’t mean to snap, his heart was in his throat as he took the nearest forearm in his grasp. 

“I need you to try to relax.” he couldn’t get his voice out of that commanding tone, Kev felt beyond guilty for what it was doing to the little redhead. That was the least of his worries. Shy footsteps came up the stairs, Keven’s pointed ears picked up the faint sounds of his wife long before she made it to the top.

“Get back outside!” he belted, almost dashing to the door. “Soya, Babe, please. Just… go stay by Rin for a while.” She didn’t need to see this. She would undoubtedly find a way to blame herself and drive herself mad with guilt. The stone settling in the pit of Keven’s stomach would be more than heavy enough for the both of them. 

Was Sebastian always this pale? Kev pressed two fingers at his pulse point, finding the thready fluttering of his heart concerning. He was rapidly losing too much blood. Or, at least it really looked as if he was, Sebastian was amazingly alert, his voice never stopped apologizing and rambling explanations that Kev hadn’t been paying too much mind to. 

“I’m going to tourniquet your arm.” the alpha decided, noting that Sebastian’s left arm is the one that took the brunt of the abuse. “Then you’re going to honestly tell me what the fuck is going on. Okay? If you can’t speak, or if you start to pass out, you will be going to the hospital. They will put you under suicide watch, and we will have to fight the handlers to keep you in our home.” Shame was written all over Sebastian’s expression. The heart fluttering could be from stress. He just didn’t act like- Keven ‘s mind drifted slightly, his giant hand wrapped around Ash’s bicep and worked to stem the bleeding until Kev was able to pull himself together. 

The cuts looked uglier than it was bad. Some life preserving part of Sebastian’s brain must have still been functioning as he decided to chase after the hallucinations. With shaking hands, Keven wrapped both of the omega’s forearms. He took time to study the cuts on Ash’s fingers. No matter how Kev chose to wrap them, they were going to be sore and practically unusable for a long time. 

“How hard is it for you to stay awake?” Keven questioned, lifting Sebastian’s chin so that he couldn’t divert his eyes. They were pinpoints from nerves, but they were even at least. 

“I… I’m okay.” he stammered, “I’m sorry. I’ll clean everything. I’ll do whatever you want. I don’t… want to go back.” 

“You aren’t going back.” the promise was like a balm to Sebastian’s sanity. He nearly collapsed into tears at those little words, a few slid down his cheek as he fought the knot of regret tightening in his chest.

“The stress brought on hallucinations.” Keven calmly explained. “There are no bugs, there is nothing under your skin. Please try to believe us.” 

“-but I…” Sebastian blurted, flinching hard as Keven’s other hand came up to comb some of the redhead’s hair out of his face. 

“Soya told me some of what happened earlier. She isn’t angry, just worried. She thought leaving would be better, since no one would be hurt.” the alpha found what he was looking for in Sebastian’s expression, slowly he moved to draw the omega up in his arms. “We’re going to get you clean and set up in bed. I don’t think you’ve lost too much blood, but I also don’t remember much of the army’s crash course of first aid.” 

Ash was stripped of his ruined clothes. Keven started running a bath, rinsing the worst of the stains before setting the plug. Sebastian shivered on the closed toilet seat, his nakedness barely hidden by his twig like limbs. He watched as Keven mopped up the floor and countertop of Sebastian’s blood. He was returning the room to it’s usual quaintness. 

“I’m sorry.” Ash cried, looking helplessly up at his alpha. “I am... Please. I don’t want to go back.” 

“Already told you,” Keven dropped the towel to the sink’s basin, it took him a moment to conjure the courage to look Sebastian in the eye. He knew how much hurt and fear would be in those blue irises, and he knew how desperate he would be to ease it. “I won’t let them have you. This… all this isn’t who you are, and we aren’t going to hold this against you.” 

Sebastian didn’t look as if he believed Keven’s words yet, he was so far down the rabbit hole of his thoughts. Keven scented the omega’s jaw with his wrist, like he had when he first arrived. He hummed sympathetically as he watched the little omega’s eyes flutter. Keven carefully thumbed a stray tear from his mate’s cheek. 

“The water’s ready.” the alpha tested the temperature before turning back towards the omega. “Lay your arms on the sides of the basin, try to not let the bandages get wet, okay?” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Soya only half listened to her husband when he told her to go back outside. Rin was downstairs with her as they tried to clean up the stains before they had a chance to set in the light colored carpet. The beta helped by rolling up the large area rug and hauling it out to the garage for later cleaning. Soya was currently almost to the top of the stairs, the ones lower already spotless. 

“Let me change the water for you.” Rin spoke monotoned, much like his omega always did. He had dirty green eyes and thin, long black hair, but he was tall for a beta. The man patiently waited for Soya to finish what she was working on before holding out a hand to take the heavy bucket from the woman. 

“Is Pierce home?” She questioned, “You don’t have to stay around here if he’s waiting on you.”

“Pie can wait, it’s fine. Probably lost in a book anyway.” Rin shrugged, barely even noticing the heaviness of the blood stained water bucket as he lifted it to the kitchen sink. Soya could hear soft voices from the bathroom her two boys were in. The bath tap had shut off a while back. Granted if the condition of the house had any resemblance of how Sebastian was doing, Ash probably needed to be bathed. 

She climbed the last few steps with every intention to knock on the bathroom’s door. Before she could get that far, the doorway opened to reveal Keven carrying the rail thin omega against his chest. Sebastian cried out at the sight of Soya, his panic almost causing Kev to drop him. Sebastian rambled, most of his words merging together into meaningless jumbled sounds. The only thing he wore were the bandages on both of his arms. Embarrassment tried to blush his anemic pale skin and his thin limbs tried to curl in on himself as a grasp of some kind of dignity. 

“Babe.” Kev gasped at the sight of his wife. Her knees and shirt were wet and orange splotched from cleaning. “I thought I asked you to wait outside.” 

“Do we need to call for an ambulance?” her words caught in her throat, so they sounded rough even in her own ears. 

“I might call my brother later, but we’re okay.”Kev came across as if he was convincing himself more than his wife. 

“ _This_ is not okay. Gods, Ash can’t even stay awake!” Soya started to scream. Her shrill voice taking on more of her accent than normal. “I should have stayed. This wouldn’t have happened. I would have been able to help.” 

“You made the right call, Soya.” Rin spoke up, setting the bucket of fresh, soap water at the top of the stairs. The passive beta nodded his greeting to Keven, and didn’t let his sight linger on the self destructing omega caught in Kev’s arms. 

“I’m bringing Sebastian to bed.” Keven announced as he turned on a heel. “Tell Pierce thank you again for the spare clothes.”

“Anytime.” Rin wore a ghost of a smile before returning to his complete stoic expression. Soya wanted to chase the two into their bedroom, but Ash looked so guilty when he saw her. She should give them more time to calm down first, afterward she would be able to apologize.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


	7. Belong

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello my ninjas!
> 
> Editing is approaching non-existence as time goes on. My apologies ahead of time.
> 
> Update:  
> (Everyone thank EveningDownpour for being a very brutal, albeit entertaining test subject. With his help, this is less painful to read.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sebastian didn’t want to be left alone. The absolute desperation and panic in his blown pupils shattered Keven’s heart. Ash had chased his retreating mate until the omega was reaching over the edge of the bed, his body shaking as he balanced on his knees. 

“Please.” the redhead’s voice cracked. “I’m sorry- please. Just…” 

“Ash, Babe. It’s okay.” Kev caved, nearly bolting as he returned within reach of his scared little mate. “Lay down, alright? I’m going to be right back, I promise.” 

“Don’t leave.” the omega continued to beg, his weak grasp clutching to his alpha’s clothes. 

“I’m just going to get you something to eat, try to get your blood sugar back up.” Keven felt at a loss of how to proceed. Sebastian nearly screamed when Kev shifted his weight, trying to peel the clinging omega from him. With a soft, hissing sigh, the alpha relented. 

“Soya,” he shouted, hearing her light steps quickly approach from down the hallway. She let out a soft cry when she saw how Ash was clinging to her husband. Even so, a look of fear and regret distorted his features when Ash saw the short woman come closer.

“Soya, would you please bring cookies or something up for Ash? He’s not... He really doesn’t want to be alone.” Keven frowned his apology, one of his hands weaving into Sebastian’s long hair and holding the omega’s forehead against his heart. She waved it off with a promise as it wasn’t a bother at all. 

Keven coaxed his redhead to lay back on the bed. The omega still whimpered and shivered from the anxiety that took its toll on his mind. Alpha’s whispers were left ignored as Keven found himself scenting the little omega out of a desperation. 

“Sebastian, you need to get a hold of yourself.” he knew anxiety didn’t know logic, but if Ash couldn’t calm down soon he was going to be dragged under into a drop. “We aren’t giving you up. This is your home now, like it or not.” 

“I saw them with my own two eyes.” Ash stuttered horribly, thankfully he was speaking slow enough for Keven to be able to pick out the words. “I can feel them. In my skin. You  _ have _ to believe me!” 

“I do believe you,” Kev nearly cried, “but you need to believe us when we say there is nothing there.” 

“You haven’t even looked!” Sebastian accused, still not releasing Keven from his grasp. 

“Sebastian, I inspected what you did to your arms, there was no sign of anything living under your skin.” the alpha was propped up on his elbow. The two lounged with Sebastian’s head on the alpha’s forearm, the alpha’s shirt wrinkled tight in the smaller man’s fist. 

Soya came back upstairs with a slight knock on the door to warn the other two. Her dark eyes were doe like as she worried her lower lip. Ash’s breath caught again. 

"I'm sorry I left. If I had known, I would have stayed." Soya was the first to speak. Tears fled Sebastian's cheeks while he tried to believe Keven's promise.  They really weren't holding any of this against him. 

"I didn't want to hurt you. I don't know what came over me. I'm so sorry.  Soya, please. I'll do anything just to-" Sebastian's words were cut short by their alpha's harsh hush. 

"Eat something." Kev directed, nodding his thanks for the pastries Soya had brought up. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That night was absolutely sleepless for Ash. He was pressed against Kev's side, Soya mirroring him on their alpha's opposite side. His mind couldn't settle. He felt like he had to do something. Anything to occupy his circling thoughts. It was like his mind finally realized how much time he had actually lost to the drugs.Now it was working overtime to make up for it. Ash could practically hear his neurons teasing him. 

"Hey, dumbass. Guess who's back."

All of the time he had wasted trying to chase the high, trying to escape his everyday- even if that meant ruining his body: his mind was starting to come back and it wanted to make up for lost time. Except it was an ungodly hour in the morning, the middle of the night, where he laid supposedly comfortable under an arm of a defender he would have killed to have just a month ago. Not only did he have Keven, Soya was mirroring how Sebastian laide on the opposite side of their alpha, except her dainty fingers intertwined with his in her sleep. Her absolute innocents and never ending love didn’t even waver after the stunt he had pulled earlier that day. She was worried about him, and wanted to keep him close. Was that something Sebastian deserved?

Regardless if he thought he deserved it, Sebastian knew he needed it. He needed people like these two in order to be able to break out of this meth, heroin, whatever they were giving him. It possessed his body and mind, shaping him into something he couldn't even recognize as himself. In no right mind would he have ever cut into his own flesh! Yet here he was, with both of his arms bound in sterile white gauze. 

Sebastian knew he needed them, craved their affections, and his success would be determined by how patient these two angels were. He didn’t deserve them, maybe one day he would be worthy- maybe one day he would feel that all of this chaos was worth it for them. Until then, Sebastian knew that the only reason this amazing alpha even gave him a second glance was because of the mating mark. If not for that little gift from the holy mother herself, only hell would have a room for Sebastian. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next week Sebastian did his absolute best to be on good behavior. The sensations were nearly impossible to ignore. His arms had itched under the gauze, even now that the gauze was gone. He also knew that both Soya and Keven were looking him over every time they changed his bandaging, and continued to check him over every time he commented on it. Both of them kept promising that there was nothing there. Ash had to believe them. He almost killed himself trying to prove them wrong- following this drug’s trail would only lead to darker times. Sebastian wholeheartedly tried to behave. 

He found himself sitting in the quiet of his room more and more. The clean bright colors worked amazingly to remind him he wasn’t part of that harm any longer. The air was clear. The sheets were fresh and fluffed. No scents of artificial heat or blood permeated from the hallway. He was even allowed to have the window open whenever he chose. Even though he didn’t know the exact date, he knew it was early enough in the year to still have a bit of crispness in the air, but the scent of early blooming gardens found their way into his space. Perhaps if he behaves well enough, they’ll let him have a potted flower of his own. The orchid was gorgeous, he absolutely loved it. Yet the flowers were starting to wither away, and he wasn’t sure if it would conjure the ability to bloom again. He would love to have a new one, a younger one whos blooms would last longer.  

That way he can take care of something, maybe he’ll be able to sustain something beautiful for once in his corrupted life. Ash had to stop himself, his hands folded in front of him where he sat in the corner desk. His thoughts were starting to wander to dangerous territory again. Everytime he entertained the demons- things always went sideways for him. Not this time. Ash refused for them to win, he was having such a good streak!

“Ash?” that warm bell like voice startled him. He turned to find Soya standing at the cracked doorway. She was still outside, in the hall. Not once did either of them enter his room without his permission, or without an overbearing reason. 

“Hello,” He smiled, fighting the urge to fidget with his hands, choosing to fold them in his lap instead. Soya looked pretty today: her hair was tied up in a braid Sebastian couldn’t quite name, and her sweater fit her slender frame well. Love was in her eyes every time she gazed at Sebastian, a notion the redhead was still trying to get a good grasp of. 

“I was going to get my nails done, thought maybe you would want to come with.” Her smile was honey, her voice so innocent. Sebastian agreed before he realized what he was agreeing to. Ash would have to go outside, in public. 

Soya grinned along with her miniature celebration, quickly asking if Ash minded if she came in. Ash would need to change into something other than the sweatpants he kept hostage from his alpha. Pierce’s shirts were comfortable enough, but the still lingering scent of his bonded alpha served as reassurance. Soya quickly plucked out a pair of fairly tight fitting black jeans. Her equally dark eyes shined with excitement as she held the fabric up to Ash’s hips. 

“I always wanted to see these on you.” she admitted, tipping her head to the side as if to help herself envision it, “That venom shirt you like would go well with these, you know.” 

“Ven-nom?” Sebastian questioned, already feeling anxiety start to build in the back of his mind. 

“The really loose hoodie with the globy face on it.” she chuckled slightly, humming into the palm of her hand as she glanced over the hanging array of shirts. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Keven wondered if it was so unusual for an alpha to get a manicure as he watched his two mates glide down the staircase. He was certain that the skittish red head would turn down the prospect of needing to go out into public, then again there he was. Sebastian looked nice when he was put together. Soya must have had fun if the braid in Ash’s hair had anything to do with it. His outfit was overwhelmingly black with a white outline of Venom’s face across his chest. Even his slightly heeled ankle boots were black leather. Still, he looked good, mostly because he was finally out of those holey, paint stained sweats that Keven had meant to throw out almost a year ago now. 

“Are we ready?” Kev prompted, suddenly feeling underdressed for the occasion. 

“I told you he would go.” Soya winked, linking arms with the red headed omega. Ash smiled shyly, feeling as his alpha’s gaze slid up and down his frame. 

“The both of you look amazing,” the alpha eventually commented, tipping his head to let the omegas lead the way. “After you, my loves.”

The nail salon was a small place on the edge of the neighborhood. “Stiletto nails” was written in a fine cursive neon light across the dulling brick structure. The shop itself was only slightly busy, just enough for a low murmur to hum under the music they had playing on a single speaker radio, trying its best in the back corner. Soya chimed happily as soon as she stepped in, and one of the workers quickly jumped to her feet and mirrored Soya’s greeting. The two rushed together into a hug, their voices lost in another language as they quickly rambled with each other. Sebastian stayed back, fighting the urge to cling to his alpha’s arm as he nervously studied the place. 

“That would be Kotori our Soya is currently talking to, they’ve been friends forever.” Kev snorted, “Honestly, the two of us could sneak out, get good food and a stiff drink, come back- and they still wouldn’t have realized we even left.” 

“I heard so much of you!” the stranger… Kotori, rapidly approached the two men. 

“We should’a ran,” Keven mockingly joked as he held Sebastian against his side. Ash had one hand clinging to Keven’s shirt while the short woman took hold of his other. Her smile was gentle and her touch was soft but a bit cold.

Kotori seemed like she was singing, her body even bounced a little along with her word, but Ash had no idea what she was trying to say to him. Soya giggled, lightly slapping her friend on the arm. 

“Come look at the colors they have, Ash.” Soya purred, already wandering over to the wall of vials. 

“I’ll leave you three to it,” Keven announced, “You have your phone, right?” Soya confirmed, holding it up for the alpha to see. He hummed as he pressed a sure kiss to his wife’s lips. Sebastian, of course, glanced away as to not impede on their moment. His breath caught when Keven stopped by him, lifting his chin with a strong hand.

“I’ll see you two after, okay?” Kev hushed, lowering his head to press a kiss to Sebastian as well. Just like that, as natural as could be, their alpha slipped out the chiming front door. 

Ash wasn’t too sure what he had just consented to considering his head was still stuck on what Keven had done. Soya and himself were just treated exactly the same. Kev had said goodbye to Sebastian as if they were married, or at least dating. Soya and Keven has so much more history with each other- he couldn’t get in the middle of that. Still, here he was with his mate’s wife. Listening to her bell like laughter and her strange bird song like language. If he was honored enough to be treated as an equal by their alpha, should he really be over thinking all of this? 

The most piercing question was whether or not these thoughts were spurred on by his own reasoning, or if the old habits of the drug was starting to seep in. The two don’t seem bothered by him, if nothing else they seem to want him around. Sebastian needs them like he needs air. This shouldn’t be that difficult of a question!

A light weight plopped onto his shoulder, warmth from another omega and the soothing vibrations of their purr pulled him back into the nail salon’s chair. Soya’s sweet, faint scent once again told the redhead everything was okay. 

“You’re over thinking again aren’t you?” she guessed, straightening herself so that she can look Ash in the eye. Sebastian shrugged, taking a moment to study the impeccable art that he doesn’t remember someone painting onto his nails. 

“Kotori does amazing work, doesn’t she?” Soya smiled, lifting her own hand to Ash’s sight, the pattern mirroring his own on her as well. It was a simple natural looking french manicure, except for the ring finger. The whites swirled into a flower pattern that made Ash go cross-eyed just looking at it. He couldn’t imagine doing it himself. 

“How about we go dry before we ruin something-” Soya’s words reminded Ash of just how fragile the miniature artwork was at the moment. He instantly didn’t know what to do with his hands, holding them up and splayed as if he’s ready to go in for surgery. The look on his face must have given away his thoughts, since both of the girls started giggling. 

“So.” Soya prompted when they got comfortable on the bench. “What kinds of things are you into?” Ash wasn’t ready for a question like that. He blinked dumbly at her genuinely curious expression. 

“Don’t give me that.” she smirked, “You’re always so quiet, there’s gotta be something rolling around in that noggin of yours.” Sebastian almost started fidgeting with his fingers, but he realized he was still at risk of ruining Kotori’s work. 

“I don’t know, I’m not really that interesting.” He swallowed nervously, knowing that wouldn’t be enough to put off Soya. Ash worried his lower lip, hoping that his mind would come up with something to say. Every thought he had been mulling though in the past week escaped him at once. All that was left was the embarrassment over the stupidity of what was bothering him. Things that should be normally weren’t to him. He nearly hit the floor when Keven kissed him goodbye!

“Ash?” Soya nudged him with her shoulder, “How about we think about getting you some of your own clothes soon? I’m sure that’ll feel better than wearing whatever we have on hand for you.” 

“I really don’t mind, I wouldn’t want to waste what you’ve given me.” he smiled wryly, still not meeting her eyes.

“Nonsense!” she chirped, “you deserve your own things, Ash.” That was another concept he would have to work on. He had been someone’s possession for so long, the idea of having his own things just didn’t sound right. 

“Sebastian, Sweetie.” Soya cooed in a singing voice, “You’re going to be spoiled, I hope you know. We love you too much to not.” Ash nearly bolted from his seat. He had to force his breathing to even out, afraid his lungs were going to arrest.  He was just struggling with the idea of not being a bother, a leech on their relationship. If she was telling the truth in that little natural slip. They loved him?  A gentle touch smoothed over his hand, drawing his attention as Kotori eyed his nails.

“Should be okay.” she smiled as she held out her hand to look over Soya’s nails. “Maybe you should call Kevie-kun before everyone starts flirtin’ with the both of you.”  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I gave Ash my favorite hoodie, he'd better be appreciating.


	8. Gardens

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello my Ninjas!
> 
> Rage educing announcement at the end of the chapter

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Keven was driving them back home, Soya and Sebastian were quiet in the back. He started wondering if he should offer to stop for food or anything else his omegas could be conspiring. 

“Did you mean what you said?” Sebastian eventually cracked under the pressure of his own mind. 

“What do you mean?” Keven raised a brow in the mirror. Soya also tipped her head in question.

“When you said you loved me…” Sebastian suddenly was as red as his hair, his voice squeaking with insecurities.

“Of course, I meant it!” Soya flustered, “Do we not say it enough?” 

“I’ve never heard it-” Ash started stuttering to silence when he saw the look on Keven’s face. His expression lingered somewhere between pain and endearment as their alpha ‘s throat worked around unsaid words. 

“Do we want to head home to talk?” Soya offered, greedily taking Ash’s hand in her own. Keven hummed in confirmation, still stealing glances at their redhead. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sebastian was quickly regretting bringing up the conversation at all. Neither of them had said any more, but he could feel that this wasn’t going to end well. Soya may be willing to put up with him, but this was their marriage. Ash was just an outsider, he didn’t belong with them. Keven’s sure touch found it’s way to the nape of his neck. He wasn’t crushing the omega into submission, just silently reassuring Ash as they got comfortable on the couch.

“We never really asked, did we?” Soya worried, unable to stop her knee as  it bounced nervously. “Would you like to be here with us? Like… as a relationship?” 

“Obviously, you are not pressured to stay here.” Keven tagged on, his touch never leaving. 

“I don’t see why you would want me here. I’ve… I’ve been trying to behave, be good, but I’m just so…” Ash trailed off when he couldn’t conjure the right words. 

“Don’t worry about that, we can see you under there. We know the first few weeks wasn’t your fault.  _ You _ have been nothing but an absolute polite gentleman.” Keven promised, Soya nodding along with him. Ash was between them again, figuratively and physically gotten between the married couple. The fact didn’t seem to bother them as much as it was bothering the omega. In a way he wished his fated mate was single; that way the guilt wouldn’t be nearly as heavy.

“I’ll admit I was scared at first.” Kev gave a wry smile. “But you’ve turned everything upside down, now I can’t imagine a life without the both of you at my sides.” Their redhead curled into himself, his legs folded under him as his thin arms wrapped himself in a hug. It was okay: he kept trying to convince himself. Why was he panicking? It didn’t make sense! These two, he is still convinced were angels, were blatantly telling him that he was loved. He had a home now- with two people to share this hell of a life with. It didn’t feel real, like this was a dream that would evaporate into smoke, or some kind of joke that the handers were playing. Some evil, greasy beta hiding in a back room would pop out, screaming “april fools!” as soon as he fell for it. 

“What’s going on?” Soya questioned. Ash realized he was being moved. Keven’s warm, domineering scent engulfed around him. 

“He’s scared.” Alpha knew, granted he didn’t hide it very well, did he? Their alpha shifted slightly, pulling Ash completely onto his lap. Before the omega could whimper a rejection, Keven’s gentle teeth had hold of the tingle causing gland at the base of his collarbone. Ash’s flinch was kept still by Keven’s arm which wrapped around his back. Sebastian’s head fell back bonelessly, his body shivering from the intensity of his hormones. What felt like fizzy bubbles coated his skin, the chill of them cut by the furnace like heat radiating off of his alpha. 

“I love you.” Keven growled as he adjusted his hold to support Ash’s lulling head. “Obviously we didn’t make it clear enough for you before, and I’m sorry about that.” Sebastian wanted to cry, but the tears never came. Alpha was forgiving enough to let him take his time to gather himself. Keven’s breath was hot as he peppered Ash’s forehead with kisses, pressing back into his hairline and letting the omega rest in the crook of his neck. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sebastian couldn’t pinpoint the exact time Keven had carried him up to their bedroom, but he loved the feeling of waking up in their nest. The scents of the other two were around him, and his own had managed to intertwine into the aura of the room during his time here. It was starting to set in that he actually belonged there. Things could have been so much worse, instead he’s fallen into the lap of a loving family. Now to convince his anxiety. 

The smell of Soya’s cooking had worked its way into the upstairs, now that he was thinking about it, that may have been what woke him up. Keven’s low voice was absently talking downstairs, probably trying to find something to munch on before Soya was finished cooking. He was allowed to roam the house.

They had told him that when he first came here, but he has never done it. Staying where he was put was a useless, leftover thing from that harem. If they were going to trust him enough to admit their intentions for him, he should be able to trust them enough to not punish him for something like this. 

Soya noticed him first, her excitement was honestly endearing as she bounced while chiming a greeting. Keven’s glass eyes lingered on the redhead for a moment, a ghost of a worried smile on his lips. 

“We aren’t going to bite.” he promised. Sebastian chuckled dryly, keeping his arms tightly wrapped around himself. Ash sat in the offered chair, his ankles crossing and tucking under himself as he tried to convince his anxiety to calm down.

“Did you sleep well?” Keven’s voice was gentle, carrying like this was the new normal. The three of them in the kitchen, Soya glaring daggers everytime their alpha tried to sneak a bite. 

“I made the bed.” Sebastian spoke softly, hoping that he did a good thing. 

“A man after my own heart.” Soya sang with a wink.

“Why? We’re just goin’ta ruin it in what… less than four hours!” Keven grumbled.

“Because its not unusual to want a clean room.” she teased back, “Right, Ash? It’s nice to walk into a straight room.” Ash couldn’t help but smile at their light hearted bickering. Keven rolled his eyes when he saw he was outnumbered, grumbling something about omegas being neat freaks. 

Dinner was met with more innocent bickering. Sebastian slowly was growing more comfortable around them, and in turn in his own skin. He hasn’t needed the medication in three days now. The aches, shakes, and intrusive thoughts were falling away into something he could actually control. They did promise him that it was a temporary thing- in the moment if felt like it was a hell he was doomed to reside in for an eternity. Now there was a light on the other side of the gore riddled tunnel. 

“I told Ash we need to get him some of his own clothes.” Soya purred under Keven’s arm. Sebastian pretended to not notice the comment, keeping his nose pointedly in the book he was reading. 

“Another excuse for you to use me as a clothes rack.” Keven snorted playfully. “But you do have a point.” Wait… alpha would be coming with? He was caught eavesdropping by the way his head snapped up to look the two over. 

“You love our outings, and we’ll get to dress Ash up like an adorable doll!” Soya’s voice continued to sing, painting both of her boys rosy with blush. 

“I’m honestly okay with the clothes you have given me.” Sebastian countered weakly. 

“You’re getting your own stuff. There’s no arguing with that.” Keven sighed, “A trip to the mall with Soya is an all day affair, however.” 

“We can go tomorrow?” the woman purred innocently, “Perhaps get some lunch while we’re there. Maybe finally get you some new underwear Mr.  _ I’m fine with being comando _ Alpha.” Keven snorted at her words, pretending to be offended as he escaped from the couch.

“I don’t need this  _ abuse _ .” he dramatically drawled as he ducked into the kitchen. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Why had Sebastian never realized there was a backyard? He was barefoot on the small wooden porch, looking over the slightly overgrown lawn of the couple’s home… his home? The air was brisk, but it felt amazing on his bare chest. He was sure he was quite a sight for any nosy neighbors, being out here with only his alpha’s sweats on. He didn’t care as much as he thought he would, however. 

The disappointment of there not being a garden took him by surprise, however. They had a nice size lawn that was clearly barely used by how thick the grass was, just no space allocated for a garden. The back door clicked shut behind him, quickly followed by the scent of Keven approaching.

“You doing okay out here?” He questioned carefully. His slow movements were appreciated as he wrapped his arms around the omega’s sides from behind. Ash couldn’t help but lean back into the man’s warmth.

“It’s beautiful out here.” Sebastian commented, trying to stifle any hint of anxiety from his own scent. 

“The yard was perfect for Chandler.. I… I used to be a canine unit… until last year. Soya promised we’d get a new pup when we were ready, never really was.”  Kev’s voice dripped with a mourning Sebastian wasn’t used to hearing from him.

“I’m sorry- we can go inside if you’d like?” Ash tried to turn around, had every intention of pushing his alpha back into the home. He couldn’t move because Kev tightened his hold and nosed into the top of Ash’s hair.

“That’s not necessary.” he mumbled. “You like it out here, besides, fresh air would do the both of us some good.” 

“I was…” Sebastian hesitated. Would he be brave enough to suggest something, what if Alpha took offence to it?

“You were?” Kev prompted. Ash took an unsteady breath, bracing himself for the worst.

“I was kinda… hoping you guys had a garden.” he raced through the words, kind of hoping that the alpha wouldn’t care enough to try to follow what he was saying.

“Neither Soya or I were ever interested in it. If you’re willing, it would do the yard some good, I’d think.” Keven lifted his head a bit to survey the space. “We have more than enough room in the back, and the front could use some love too.” 

“I don’t want to impose…” Ash mumbled, wondering if he snuggled back into Kev’s chest far enough that maybe he would be able to disappear. 

“Not at all, now's the time people are putting things in anyway.” his alpha shrugged, “Could be fun.” 

Sebastian just went from wondering if he could have one plant, to the prospect of garden keeping. He was way more excited than he let show, nervous that the whole thing would be torn from under his feet. Ash really hoped he would be able to, though. Flowers, herbs, maybe even something they would be able to eat: this would be something he could do that could contribute to the house. He wouldn’t just be holed up in his room- trying to stay out of the way. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So. I'm ending this here. 
> 
> (I took the smut tags out, it just never ended up happening. Sorry for the disappointment)
> 
> Personally, I have been really struggling with the past few updates because of the fact I've grown bored of this story line. I don't want to dock too much off of the characters, but it's entering endless fluff territory and I honestly stop reading other stories once all the good bits are over. Why should I force myself to write it?
> 
> I'm going to think of this as finished, unless a riot happens then maybe I'll figure something out. 
> 
> As of now: thank you, thank you for putting up with my insanity and I hope you have an amazing day, my Ninja!


	9. Out in Public

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Decided to continue this story line. I'm not promising any normal update schedule, since I don't have a normal schedule any longer.
> 
> Hello my ninjas~

Sebastian knew that they were going to the mall. He didn’t expect it to weigh so heavily on him, however. People were everywhere; pups and omegas were grouped together in the parking lot, some running towards the main entrance while others tried to coral their pups back into the cars. 

It was too familiar. The large building, the gathering of people, the screams of children- although not for the same reason- were all too similar. The auction house was a memory he seemed to have wanted to repress, now it was front and center. He couldn’t hear the other two as they tried to earn his attention. Soya had a delicate hand over the redhead’s heart, her wide, dark eyes trying desperately to find recognition in those sea blue irises.  

Keven was trying to convince Ash to breathe. The alpha was knelt at the side of the sedan, his right hand coming to the redhead’s nape while his other scented along the omega’s jaw line. Ash clearly wasn’t mentally with them, swept away into a demonic flashback. 

“Let’s try laying him down before he drops.” Keven urged, motioning for Soya to scooch back to her side of the car. Sebastian’s head laid perfectly on her lap. His eyes were screwed shut and his limbs curled in on themselves, making him appear smaller. 

“Sweetheart?” Soya’s voice cracked, lost as to why this was happening. 

“He’ll come back up.” Keven promised without a thought, keeping his touch consistent as he rubbed warmth back into Ash’s arms. The three stayed where they were for a while, however long it would take for Sebastian to gather himself back together. 

“I’m sorry.” were the first words to crack through his tense cords. Even as he was trying to sit up, both of the others held him still with a cooing murmur. He didn’t need to get up so quickly. Ash was so close to a drop that they were afraid that he would succumb to one if he tried to be active so soon afterward. 

“There’s no reason to be sorry.” Kev hushed, watching every minute shift in the omega’s expression as Soya continued to stroke his hair. He was coming back, the alpha was convincing himself, there wasn’t a need to panic. Sebastian had rolled onto his side, curled tight into the back support of the seat and snuggled his cheek against the warmth of Soya’s thigh. 

“Should we head back?” Soya offered after a drawn out silence, a soft purr growing in her chest. 

“It’s up to Ash.” Keven shrugged lightly. 

Sebastian eventually slowly sat up. His red mane stood on end from Soya’s toying, and his eyes were glazed over from shame. Keven growled warmly, placing a chaste kiss to the center of the omega’s forehead. 

“Do you want to head home?” Soya’s cheek fell onto Ash’s shoulder. Her long hair cascading over his thin shoulder. 

“I… I can handle it.” Sebastian tried to keep the stutter out of his voice, but failed. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Keven, the only alpha in proximity, was flanked by his two omegas as they wandered down the main vein of the mall. Betas eyed the three suspiciously, most of them pulling their own omegas closer to their sides. Sebastian clung to his alpha’s arm like a lifeline. He kept forcing himself to look around, see that this wasn’t the auction house. This isn’t them, this isn’t a repeat of that hell. 

Perhaps they should have gone home.

Soya warmly rambled as they walked, Kev's sure arm managed to escape Ash's hold for favor of wrapping around the omega's waist. Ash tried to keep himself from panicking again, Alpha was here. He wasn’t going to let anything happen.

“We’re going into Sharlett’s first.” Soya made the executive decision by turning abruptly and dragging her two boys with her. The thin woman smiled from ear to ear as she did, shooting a quick wink towards Sebastian. 

Soya lead them into the department store, vibrant colors blurring around them. She pulled the first displayed jacket she could reach, twirled towards Sebastian, and thrusted it against his chest. Her eyes sparkled with mischief while Ash stood in a startled daze. 

“This would be cute on you- try it on.” she rushed before he could form a cohesive thought. He stuttered, helplessly glancing towards Keven. 

“We’re in her element, just do it.” the alpha chuckled with a shrug. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Before Keven realized how much clothing Soya had picked out, the two omegas were gone into the dressing room. He fiddled with his phone as he lightly leaned on a display. The albino was more distracted by the way he was treated more like a sideshow than a patron. Pups stared up at him unabashed. The little ones didn’t bother him as much as the fear laced scents of the omega parents as they darted past where he was standing. Alphas were rare, and the few that did break the surface had a very bad reputation: all Keven could do was control himself. 

Soya’s light hearted giggling reminded Kev of why he was here. Even from somewhere in the back of the dressing room, he could hear that lower toned groan from Ash and the purring laugh from his wife. She was most likely dressing the poor kid up like a barbie doll against his will. 

Nearly fifteen minutes bled by before the two of them emerged. The alpha found himself with his arms full of folded clothes from his wife and one of the brightest smiled he’s received from her in a long time. Sebastian looked exhausted, a blush seemingly permanent across the bridge of his nose. 

“Are we done?” Kev looked towards Ash more than his hyper wife. He was more than ready to leave, but Hyperactive had a point that he still needed a pair of shoes. 

The first pair of boots Soya pulled from the shelves nearly caused Ash’s eyes to bug out of his head. The heel alone was easily six inches, the black, shiny leather reached up well past Ash’s knee. The redhead helplessly stuttered over reasons he didn’t need something like that, but the glow in Soya’s eyes was impossible to dull. 

“Beautiful.” Kev sighed, giving her a half smile. 

“Like you wouldn’t appreciate.” she huffed, “Try them on, please?.” Ash suddenly found himself juggling with the large articles until gravity finally won, and they fumbled to the ground by his feet. Blushing deeply, and feeling the eyes of the other patrons on him, he sat where he stood to try on the shoes. 

With the jeans he had on he couldn’t lace the boots properly, but he was able to stand- very unsurely- in them. Sebastian could almost look Keven in the eye, something he was clearly not used to. Instinctively he ducked his head down and began to shuffle backwards as a show of submission, only to be caught by Keven’s sure hold. Their omega started to rush apologies for sins he never committed. 

“They look good on you.” Keven’s deep, confident voice washed over Sebastian’s rattled nerves. Those crystal like pink irises locked to Ash’s fidgeting blue. Keven’s touch moved to the omega’s jaw, lifting his head and holding steady eye contact with him. Sebastian squirmed under the gaze, hating the dread that coiled in his gut in aprehension to what his alpha was going to do as punishment. Keven never made a move to strike him: they just stayed there as if the world around them didn’t exist. Neither one moved until Keven was sure Sebastian was here and with him.

On their way down the mall’s main walkways, Keven was making mental notes to ignore all the hushed comments that weren’t quiet hushed enough for his hearing to not pick up. It twisted his insides the wrong way every time they assumed Sebastian was as thin as he was because “Alpha wasn’t feeding him.” Sebastian was thin because he hadn’t lived with them long enough to put on the weight he needs! Despite this, his omegas were blissfully unaware of such remarks, and he wanted to keep it that way. So, he obediently carried the bags of clothes and followed his ever energetic wife through the busy aisle. 

Keven and Sebastian both couldn’t wait to get home. Soya was excited, but for different reasons. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sebastian disappeared into the hall bathroom before Soya could catch up with him. Keven was left carrying the bulk of the bags. The wife huffed playfully, turning to face her alpha. 

“I bet you feel all accomplished.” she tipped her head, a smirk growing on her lips.

“For what?” Kev quickly questioned, pausing at the doorway with one foot still outside.

“Thinking you got out of buying underwear.” her smirk was growing broader. Keven thought over his chances of bolting down the streets… what had she done? Her steps were light and bouncy as she approached. At first the alpha pulled the bags out of her reach, his brows inching up his forehead as he eyes the dangerous glint in Soya’s eyes. 

Keven held his breath as he watched her dig through the bags, cursing that he hadn’t been paying attention when they were checking out. She burst into her signature giggling despite her best attempts of keeping a straight face. A large- alpha size- thong laid across her hands. The lace of it befitting the most delicate dress, not a muscle bound wolf. 

The alpha had to pick his jaw up from the floor to even begin stringing rebuttals together. Soya’s smile only kept growing. 

“Not happening.” Keven finally found the strength in his voice, a quivering smile starting to crack his demeanor. 

“Even if both Ash and I asked _really_ nicely?” her words sang sweetly with the honey venom tease they were laced with. The alpha let out what might have been a huff but it closely resembled a snort. He made a quick, mumbled excuse of putting things away as a way to escape up the stairs. He couldn’t let his wife see the face splitting smile that he had been trying to hold back. It would only encourage her, and things would only escalate.

Fumbling into Sebastian’s room, he set the items down in the middle of the clearing. Ash had ample closet space, not to mention the low dresser that had all empty drawers, storage wouldn’t be an issue. It wasn’t until Keven had set the three pairs of shoes- including thigh high boots- on the floor of the closet did he realize he wasn’t in the room alone. As the alpha turned back around to open the next bag, the quick glimpse of a foot being pulled back caught his attention. Sebastian had forced himself to fit in the impossibly tight crevasse between the nightstand and the desk. His eyes were once again screwed shut and his palms tightly over his ears. Keven tried his best to stay calm, a panicked alpha’s scent in Ash’s room was not what the omega needed. 

The alpha stalked forward, his sight never leaving the strained expression on his mate’s face. Questions rushed through his head, many of them turning back onto himself. Sebastian clearly wasn’t ready for such a public outing. They should have turned back. What if he _had_ heard the hushed comments around them? What if he had seen a familiar demonic face from his past? Did he think that the two thought any less of him because he had that panic attack earlier?

“Ash.” Keven rumbled, the little word almost dissolving completely into a growling purr. “What’s so wrong?” 

The omega didn’t answer, instead he stayed huddled tightly and struggled against the horrible tremors that were taking over his limbs. Regret coiled in Keven’s gut, fear of having pushed his fragile, little mate too far steeped deep into his bones. He tried to earn the omega’s attention by ghosting his fingertips over his bare forearm. The trembling got violently worse, his tight lips curled back in a fear fueled grimace. Still, his eyes never cracked open. 

"Sebastian, Babe.” the alpha continued to plead. “Come on, Baby. Look at me.” he was so far gone, wrapped up in his thoughts that not a single work seemed to break through to him. Keven settled himself onto his knees before braving a more sure touch along Sebastian’s forearm. His deep voice growled promises of safety, each one laced with a gentle hush. It broke his heart in the worst way to see Sebastian like this. Even as Ash’s mate was carefully pulling him from his hiding place, he whimpered pathetically and dug his nails into his scalp to the point of bleeding. 

It had to have been a flashback. There was nothing else to call this. The alpha was helpless but to pull the smaller against his chest and tuck Ash’s nose against the curve of his throat. He purred praises and promises under his breath, not knowing exactly when he started rocking back and forth. 

That was how Soya had found them. Her heart leapt into her throat, not thinking twice before rushed to their sides. Ash desperately whimpered while her husband clutched the omega in a warm embrace. 

“What happened?” she looked Ash over with wide eyes, fear paling her skin. 

“I don’t know.” Kev admitted, hating that he couldn’t hide the tears that were settling on his lashes. 

“Alpha?” Ash’s broken voice earned Keven’s complete attention. 

“I’m right here.” he urged, curling tighter around the omega. Ash’s fingers twisted into the apha’s shirt, his eyes still glazed over blindly. 

“I’m right here, god, Babe.” Keven pressed a solid kiss into Ash’s hairline, “What’s going on? Are you hurt?” 

“No…” Ash muttered, “I’m sorry.” Embarrassment began to paint his cheeks again. Tears silently slid down his face, his vice hold on Keven’s shirt never wavering. 

“I’m sorry. I thought we were past this.” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The three had moved to their shared bedroom, with Keven comfortably sandwiched by his omegas. The thought of taking a shower with the both of them danced across his sleep dazed mind. He could see just how red Sebastian would become, and how valiantly he would try to cover himself, even as they took turns washing his thin frame. Soya would probably burn the two boys out of the shower with her affinity towards boiling bath water. Kev missed the showers he and his wife shared. It was a perfect way for the both of them to bond after a hellish day. It didn’t matter what he witnessed or had to do, his wife was there, under his eyes and palms. 

The ear piercing ring of his cell phone shattered his illusion. Work was calling, he had to get up, and get gone. Soya rolled off of the alpha’s chest first, sleepily blinking her eyes. 

“Where am I going?” he answered as he always did, that familiar hyper voice was rambling on the other side, again. Ignoring her, Kev leaned forward to press a kiss to Sebastian’s cheek, mumbling apologies as he extracted himself from the bed. Soya watched as her husband fluidly changed into his uniform, the vest still a touch too tight around his chest. 

“Did I miss the address?” he questioned when he lifted the phone back up to his ear. The woman’s unamused screeching could be heard by all three in the room. 

“Be safe.” Soya purred as he kissed her goodbye.

“Always, its late though, why don’t you two try to get some sleep? Want me to see if Rin is still up?” Kev offered, looking the two over.

“We should be okay, they’re right next door if we need anything.” Soya shrugged, “We’re okay.” 

Leaving the two upstairs was harder than he was expecting. Keven’s gone on many jobs since Ash had moved in with them, and, except for the first job, they’ve always been just fine when he returns. 

The raid wasn’t too far away from where they had found Sebastian. The streets were burned into his memory as if it was going to be a repeat of that night. Keven really hoped it wouldn’t be. Seeing the omegas chained as they were was gut wrenching. Sure, he is the front line of many abuse cases, but that one would forever haunt him. It was the first one to ever hit home with him. His mate was in that mess. Those bastard betas better hope they stay locked up, or at least out of his sight. He wouldn’t be afraid to use _Alpha Instincts_ as an excuse for murder in court. 

He pulled up to the address, red and blue lights already flooding the place from the police presence. Lance was once again heading the project, the alpha greeting Kev as soon as he was in sight. 

“Similar m.o. as what we’ve seen.” Lance had a tinge of warning in his tone as he handed Keven an earpiece. 

“Want me to clear the place before the medics can get in-” Kev grunted, “then upturn the place for evidence. We’ve done this before, Bud.” 

“I want you to look for survivors. There’s so many nooks in this place, we need an alpha’s nose to see if we’re leaving anyone behind.” Lance frowned, “So far we’re only turning up dead omegas here.” 

“What?” Kev snapped, his albino eyes beginning to be eaten by the red of a shift. 

“And these victims look familiar to me, but I was hoping for a second opinion before I started uprooting the IPA fuckwads over there.”  Lance tipped his head to the beta handlers across the lawn. Of course, the woman that wanted to take Sebastian into the handlers’ care was standing there, seeming as pissed as ever.


	10. Bruises

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is this some kind of schedule? 
> 
> Hello my ninjas!  
> I'll probably be working on another story for the next two updates, but it's nice to have some kind of pattern now.

“Want me to shift?” Kev offered with a tip of his head. Lance thought it over for a long moment, his own shift bubbling under his skin.

“Yeah.” the dark skinned man nodded, his jaw clicking as he restrained his own urges. “Yeah, that’ll be helpful, that way I can stay as I am and handle these bastards.” Lance acknowledged Kev as he back pedaled to his car. There was no reason for Keven to ruin the clothes he was in for the shift. 

The house was as filthy as one would expect, Keven’s nose scrunched at the scent of death as he trotted across the linoleum flooring. Bodies were already being laid out in the front room, each one wrapped reverently in cloth. Beta soldiers parted to make way wherever Keven’s bulky wolf form was walking. His silver coat shined devilishly in the dimly lit halls. With his head low to the floor, he hoped to find a sliver of a living scent. The presence of death was overwhelming however.

He regretted coming across the main containment room instantly. The omegas that hadn’t been moved yet were slumped where they died, metal collars still hanging too heavily on their shoulders. Their faces were sunken in from starvation, a few of them already starting to decay. 

One of which Keven knew for sure he had seen before. The omega was dead, there was no questioning that, but he was one of the ones that they had pulled out of the same house Sebastian came from. How did he get  _ back _ into this situation? 

“I thought the same thing,” Lance’s voice came from the entrance. Keven was thankful that the fellow alpha understood, turning his sight away from the victim. 

“Go check upstairs for us, I’m going to handle this.” Lance shot a nasty look over his shoulder, towards someone down the hallway. Keven didn’t even need to follow the man’s gaze to know it was towards the handlers. 

Upstairs was silent, the beta enforcers had evacuated to allow Keven space to work. The scents were more saturated with the fellow betas up here compared to downstairs. Perhaps the handlers had already cleared the floor before the rest of them got there? Normally they should have waited for Lance and his team before entering. Granted since when did the listen? Huffing a breath, Keven’s nails tapped on the hard floor as he paced. Red alpha eyes, silver white fur, his shoulder standing as higher than an average man’s hip: Keven hoped that one of these beta’s scents meant that no one was still here. 

Keven wasn’t above blaming the shift as the reason why he just mauled someone to death, should one of the trafficking bastards have managed to hide from the weaker senses betas. The wolf froze in a doorway. The unexpected tainted stink of smoke lingered, as if an artificial fire had just recently been stomped out. The lightest tinge of omega stained just beneath it. There was no sound to accompany this phantom scent, but it was something he couldn’t overlook. 

The office space had been overturned, papers thrown everywhere, scorch marks on the thin rug spoke of an attempt to hide something. Tossed to the side, like a forgotten parcel of luggage, was another rail thin omega. He honestly appeared dead, if not for the scent- still barely there- Keven would have walked past him as the others must have. His skin was ice cold when Keven nosed against the man’s chest. His lips were stained with red, a bruise dominated over his left rib cage as if someone had stomped on him. Now that the wolf was closer, he could hear the wet, rattling breath that shallowly wheezed through his undoubtedly dry throat. The wolf nosed under the omega’s cheek in hopes of getting some kind of a reaction. The most pitiful whimper of fear cracked from between dry lips. 

Keven’s immediate howl was loud enough to threaten the stability of the house.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For once, the enforcers were beaten upstairs by the handlers. They rolled their eyes at the sight of Keven, one of them going as far as accusing him of wasting their time. The wolf stayed crouched by the omega, hate quickly pulling his lips back into a snarl. Soldiers shouldered through, despite the remarks from the handlers. They needed to know that Keven wasn’t about to maul the medics so that they could approach. 

“This thing has such a superiority complex.” the woman snorted. “Fine, go give the dead CPR for all I care.” Keven’s answering growl didn’t seem to phase her. 

“Kev, we good?” Lance’s voice cut over hers. 

The white wolf snorted, turning to look over the one he was protecting. After a moment he realized what he was doing, and that he needed to give others room to work. Kev appeased his feral mind by pressing the top of his snout against the dying omega’s chin, serving as a silent promise before he stepped away for the medic’s to fill the room.

“I want you to check the body bags.” Lance growled under his breath. Keven was already heading downstairs to do just that. Without pause, Lance’s voice raised to his other men, commanding that every victim to be re-checked. 

The handler’s glared at a distance as Keven nosed along the laid out corpses. His muscular frame moved fluidly along the line up as his muzzle nosed under the folds of the decency blankets. The gut twisting scent of death greeted him with every snort. After at least a dozen confirmed cases, one of them wasn’t. Adrenaline flooded Keven’s sanity as he snapped his jaws on the tarp. 

He pulled the omega backwards, not thinking clearly as panicked, in-cohesive noises snarled from his throat. Someone solidly slapped a hand on his shoulder, causing him to reflexively drop the tarp and turn to tear into the flesh. Lance was there, jerking back just in time to evade the other’s fangs. 

“You’ve shifted for too long, Dude.” Lance’s deep voice didn’t hold malice, but he had a tone that cut through the feral mindset of a wolf. Keven mechanically untensed his on edge muscles. 

“Go for a walk, I need you to have your head for when it’s my turn to shift.” Lance’s dark eyes already held every intent for murder, him shifting may be the death of every  _ IPA _ handler on the premises. 

The white wolf met no resistance as he trotted out the front of the building and away from the raid. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

By the time Keven returned to a more human state of mind he was a quarter of a mile away and his clothes were back at the raid site. He stayed crouched in shrubbery, nude as the day he was born with his feral shift slowly receding to something resembling a beta’s. He should have worn the pack for his phone. He would have been able to give Lance a call and someone  _ would _ have been able to come pick him up. But no, he had to be stubborn. He’d be fine, he thought, he didn’t need to strap his phone to his body,he reasoned. Now he needs to face the self imposed wiggle dick run of shame across a neighborhood. But it’s fine everyone, Keven’s a professional enforcer of the law.

The ones he worked with were mercifully silent as they saw Keven sprinting towards them from down the street. His glowingly pale skin made all the more apparent by the growing moon’s light. He shouldered past a handler, ignoring the indignant comment they grunted under their breath as he continued his bolt towards his car. 

Finally dressed and decent, Keven made it a point to seek out Lance. Granted, it wasn’t hard to find the demon voiced alpha- considering he was screaming at the woman handler. The officials were trying to take the two survivors into their custody, which was not going to happen if Lance had any control over it. They both needed to get to the hospital, the omegas weren’t going to survive a detour to the handler’s establishment first. 

The woman didn’t care, she was upholding protocol. Keven recognized the look on Lance’s face. The way his lips curled back to show shifting fangs and the way his chocolate eyes rotted into pitch spheres of hatred. 

“Lance-” Kev warned. 

“Victoria Silva, you are under arrest.” Lance ignored Keven, his twitching muscles foreshadowing the rage shift he was fighting off. The handler nearly choked on her own tongue as she sputtered her disbelief that Lance would be so obscene. The fuming alpha continued to stalk forward, chanting her rights mechanically despite clearly not having her cooperation.

“Medics, bring them to the hospital,” Kev jerked his head towards the victims, “Anyone one else that stands in your way is joining her, with the same charges.” 

The medics sprung to life. They communicated fluidly among themselves as they prepared to maneuver the omegas to their transport. One of the beta enforcers insisted on not setting the barely conscious omega down, instead he followed them out with the man cradled against his chest. 

“You’re absolutely insane!” she snarled, her shift was as far as her beta dynamic would allow, but she still couldn’t wrench her arm out of the other’s hold.

“If it’s found that you are the reason these men are  _ back _ in this situation-” Lance’s growl was interrupted by Victoria’s spit landing with a splat on his face. 

“Filthy alpha,” she snorted, “Fucking freaks of nature- all of you!” 

“Let’s get her in a taxi before she gets herself killed.” one of the many beta enforcers spoke up, looking towards Lance for permission to approach.

“Doesn’t surprise me at all the albino defect is an alpha, you’re the one with that evolutionary reject as a mate, aren't you?” her manic grin distorted her features as she eyed Keven. 

“The only reason that fucker is alive is because of society's coddling of weakness, omegas should have gone extinct years ago. Worthless little fuckers. Ever wonder  _ why _ traffickers prefer male omegas?” why wasn’t she shutting up? The numerous betas around her stared with wide eyes. She fearlessly goaded both nearly feral enforcers as if she was she  _ trying _ to be mauled.

“Never speak of Sebastian that way again.” Keven’s voice darkened to something no one would have recognized as his. 

“Or what? You’ll lose your nerve and  _ eat _ me like the animal you freaks are?” she snorted through a laugh. “It would only support my case!” 

Kev wasn’t thinking when he lunged forward, all he knew was that he wanted that bitch’s throat in his grasp. He would love to see her eyes bug out of her head and her annoying voice squeak helplessly as she struggled to breathe from his  _ freak _ alpha strength. 

Arms latched around him, at first Keven didn’t bother to notice. He stalked forward with the single goal in mind. More people grappled onto him, most of them shouting at this point. Victoria stood there with an arrogant simper. 

“She isn’t worth it!” the beta right in front of him shouted, he was one of his guys. Couldn’t think of his name now- but Keven’s seen him on a thousand raids before. 

“Come one, Direson, you’re better than this.” he spoke at a more controlled volume, his brown eyes meeting Keven’s albino. 

“Get her out of my fucking sight.” Lance spoke first through grit teeth. He also had multiple people holding him back. The whole team of enforcers seemingly working to keep the handler from being murdered. 

“So what are you going to do with the omegas, huh?” she beckoned, the dancing light of amusement never leaving her eyes.

“I’ll marry both of them if it means you never get your hands on them again.” Lance screamed, his lunge forward barely halted by the friends he just shoved. 

The group was very quick to respond, ushering her out the front door. Not surprisingly- the rest of the handlers had mysteriously disappeared from the scene. 

“Go home, Direson.” Jackson, that was his name. The beta noticed that Kev had every intention to go to the hospital they were bringing the rescues. The alpha wasn’t thinking clearly- he just wanted to make sure that he was able to do the job the men needed from him. Even if that means turning on his own allies. 

“We’re goin’ to look into an alternative place for them, Silva won’t be a problem.” the beta shrugged with a lopsided grimace. “It’s Mark I’m concerned for. He kept muttering about how he promised the omega that he was safe. Now he’s on the way to the fuckin’ hospital with a punctured lung.” 

“There were many dead that we had already saved once before.” Kev muttered under his breath “That bitch even had the nerve to tell me that Sebastian would have been better off with her. Could… could you imagine if I walked in there to find Ash…”

“That’s not what happened-”

“I would never be able to forgive myself.” the alpha sucked a breath, leaning his weight against the nearest wall before the world could sway from under his feet. 

“Go home, Direson. I promise we’ll call if anything crops up.” Jack wearily watched the alpha. Despite knowing Kev for years, he was afraid of holding eye contact until the alpha finally agreed. Even then, as Kev lurched himself from his resting point, the beta backed away a step before he could stop himself.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The sun was starting to come back up, painting the sky in violets when Keven finally pulled into his driveway. Everything seemed quiet and normal, he couldn’t help but worry that Soya would be in the driveway again- their neighbor at her side as she let tears cascade unchecked down her cheeks. That was something Kev never wanted to see again.

The lock clicked obediently as the exhausted alpha mentally wrestled with himself over whether or not he should try taking a shower first, or if he should just curl up around his omegas like his instincts screamed for him to do. He never realized how much he missed the warm scent of home, until he faced the dead riddled mess he had just left. 

After making it upstairs, he silently pushed their bedroom door open. The scents of happy omegas greeted him, soft and light in their sleep. He lingered at the end of their bed, his two loves tangled together under the thick cotton blankets. There was nothing more important to his feral mind at that moment, but he knew he should try to get the stink off of his skin. It was unnervingly similar to the stench that was in the house Sebastian was in- he didn’t need to be reminded. 

Sucking a breath, he mechanically stepped away from the edge of the bed. The bathroom wasn’t far from his sleeping omegas, Keven was reasoning with himself. His muscles ached from the shift. A part of his wished to slip back into the wolf form, and stretch out the kinks. It always seemed easier to just be wild compared to being a civil person, but that was just the effects of being shifted for so long. The urge would wane away, it always did. 

Ice cold water felt amazing on his bare shoulders. The rivulets heating and starting to steam as they reached the alpha’s ankles. The albino just held his breath with his head tipped back, letting the water’s cascade clear his fogged thoughts. He was home, his loves were home, and that bitch of a handler was facing charges for what she had done. How dare she speak to him that way.

She had no right, no reason to say any of the things she had. The only thing that kept recurring in his mind was that she wanted him to attack her. If the enforcers mauled someone, handcuffed and in custody, their charges would basically be thrown out. Victoria would walk free and Keven would be the one painted as a monster. 

Slowly releasing his held breath, amazingly not growling in the process, he tried to calm the carnal rage simmering in his blood. At least two of the victims were safe now, again. Mark was undoubtedly standing guard over the one he recognized, and the other probably had a rotation standing at his side. Victoria’s henchmen wouldn’t be able to sneak them out, even if they tried to bully the hospital staff over it. 

Two out of too many made it out of there. Those were numbers he hoped to never see again. Keven still couldn’t get it out of his head that one of those corpses were almost Sebastian. His  _ mate _ . Sure, it wasn’t the easiest route to take Sebastian into his home, but he loved that omega. The conservative little redhead had wormed his way into his heart, and there was no way he was going to let the omega slip through the cracks now. 

He was a good, sweet man. He, like the rest of them, didn’t deserve any of that. 

“Drop it, Kev.” the alpha grumbled to himself, continuing to stand in the shower’s spray. He was home, and the sooner he cleaned off and calmed down, the sooner he would have his omegas in his arms. 

Keven didn’t know how much time actually bled by before his stepped out of the shower. He pulled a towel from the rack, mainly drying off his now snow white hair before lifting his sight to the mirror. His haircut had grown out, of course, but it wasn’t an unbearable length this time. The dye was completely gone, as to be expected. A couple scratches he didn’t remember getting were on his forearm, but they were negligible. The mating mark, black and inky, was the most prominent feature on him. 

“As it should be.” a part of him preened, within the same thought, he wondered if Soya would ever consider getting a tattoo to match his and Ash’s markings. The three of them belonged together, after all. 

While studying his nude reflection, the door to their bathroom creaked open. A vibrant red appeared, along with those captivating blue eyes. Ash let out a surprised shriek, disappearing from the entrance just as quickly as he arrived. 

“Wait, no, it’s okay!” Kev shouted playfully, loving the idea of running after the startled omega. Ash was still in the bedroom when Keven threw the door open. The modestly dressed man fiddled with his fingers as he stood helplessly in the middle of the bedroom’s floor. 

“Did you need in here?” Kev purred easily, his growing grin more feral than he realized. 

“J’st shower. I can wait… didn’t know you were still-” the omega silenced himself, screwing his eyes shut as soon as they landed on the unobscured member of the alpha. Crimson blush consumed his cheeks and ears. His palms came up to press against his eyes as he continued to apologize for sins that must have danced across his mind. 

“How is it that you’re so painfully innocent?” Alpha continued to purr. His warm fingers smoothed over the blushed cheeks of his mate, Keven’s albino eyes shining a dangerous ruby. The irrefutable urge to mark him washed over Keven’s veins. Keven was spurred on to press forward until Ash’s back was firmly against the wall, boxing him in and keeping his prey right where Kev needed him. He didn’t even utter a warning before he took Ash’s jaw in a firm hold and clawed the collar of his sleeping shirt out of the way.

The panicked sputtering of Ash was the only thing to pause the alpha. After a beat, Keven’s hot breath fleeting over the tender neck of his omega all the while, the alpha chuckled darkly.

“So modest, perhaps somewhere easier to conceal?” his voice vibrated right on the edge of a command. Ash squeaked his questions, devolving to nonsensical sounds as his pants were pulled down his waist, the alpha on his knees before him. 

Ash’s yelp sounded more like a moan than he intended as the alpha bit into the inner meat of his thigh. Keven suckled against the flesh, purring over the instantly spreading bruise from his attentions. Ash’s hands gripped onto the albino’s shoulders as he hunched over. Sinless curses colored his panicking voice between groans beyond his control. 

Keven released the omega’s leg, nosing against the deep purple marking left behind with a sense of pride. Sebastian thought he was going to be released, already struggling to slow his breathing as he stared bewildered down at the glowing alpha. Without hesitating, Keven turned to Ash’s other thigh. His large hands hooked the thin knee over his shoulder as his fangs teased the tender skin. Sebastian may have been trying to stop the assault, but he was cut short by his own traitorous voice. 

The alpha peppered the purpling flesh with feather light kisses once he deemed it good enough. His rumble of pride was feral in the omega’s ears, Ash couldn’t help the heavy pit of fear that sunk in the pit of his stomach. 

“I love you,” the albino gazed up with drunkenly blown pupils. The corner of his pale mouth twitched with concern when he saw the look of fright in those blue irises. “I don’t say it or show it enough.” Kev’s voice was starting to sound more like himself, the wildness of his posture slowly starting to recede. “I swear to god, I would do anything for you.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you, thank you~
> 
> Feel free to rage in the comments


	11. Slow Progress

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been forever since I've posted. . .  
> I'm sorry, I'll try to get back into some kind of rhythm, but there's no promises.

Sebastian’s breathing hitched horribly, and his sapphire blue eyes glazed over. Keven looked up at the panic stricken omega from where he knelt between the other's purpling legs. He impulsively pressed a hand over the omega’s mating mark as he scrambled for words. Ash’s vice holds in his blood red hair strained the long locks at the roots. Inconsolable hyperventilation caused his eyes to water and his head to feel as if it was about to explode. 

“Come on, look at me, Ash.” Kev pleaded, his second hand reaching up for the omega’s still too thin face. 

“Calm down, Babe, I’m right here.” the alpha’s deeper reverb of a command vibrated in his chest almost like a purr. 

“I’m not ready…” Ash choked, mercifully releasing his hair but instead pressed his palms into his sunken eye sockets. “I’m not- I can't.” Keven cursed himself, letting his arms drop to his sides. After a moment of thought, he took hold of Ash’s lowered pants and pulled them back up into place as he stood. His pink glass irises held everything he couldn’t quite put into words as he continued to crowd Ash against the bedroom’s wall. Sea blue eyes stared up at him. His paper white, much larger hand easily cradled more than half of Ash’s flushed face. 

“Breathe, Sweetheart.” the albino alpha continued to coax. 

“Give him some space, would you?” Soya playfully barked as she entered the bedroom. Her hair was wet from the bath, her robe tied securely around her frame. She continued to badger her husband, even going as far to swat at the back his snow pale hair with a halfhearted slap. Sebastian had wrapped his arms around himself. What one would have thought as shame blushed his cheeks, but his eyes were wide as dinner plates. 

“Ash?” she gasped, her bantering smile faltering as she realized how close to crumbling the other omega was. She was only joking at first, but her blood ran cold when she realized they weren’t messing around. 

“I’m not going to force you to have sex with me, Sebastian.” Keven spoke through gritted teeth, the mere thought of it souring his blood. He’s had a hard night. The curling scent of bitter rotting lemon that was Ash’s fear and the glazed look he regarded his  _ fated mate _ with was not helping Keven’s nerves. Yeah, he had slipped a little when he left the love-bites on the inside of Ash’s thighs, but he wasn’t planning on going any further. This was just another b facet that Sebastian’s previous life had decided to leave him with: a crippling fear of sex. 

Oh god, his heat was going to be a nightmare. 

Was this something they could work through before his next heat? He  _ was _ severely malnourished, they weren’t expecting him to fall into one any time soon. Yet, he's been having regular meals with them…  Anytime could be too soon if he couldn’t even handle this much affection.

Soya purred under her breath, holding out her arms for the other omega to come closer. Keven watched helplessly as his distressed mate fell into the embrace of his wife. They were omegas, Ash’s only comforting memories probably entailed other omegas. Soya whispered in his ears as she hid his face in the crook of her neck. 

Keven muttered praises under his breath as he crept closer to the two. His skin itched to hold them both. The instincts to squirrel them away from the world chanted in his thoughts like a war cry. The sight of rotting faces flashed in his mind, how close he had come to losing Ash because of selfishness twisted his insides painfully. 

His attempt to pull both of his omegas to sit on the bed earned Keven a harsh hiss from Soya. Her eyes rolled as the leer she flashed questioned in Keven even had a brain cell left functioning. She continued to thread her fingers through his red hair, her voice remarkably gentle despite the look on her face. The alpha deflated under the wrath of his wife. He only wanted to hold them, but that wasn’t what Ash needed.

“How about we go downstairs?” Soya offered, thumbing the tears away from Ash’s swollen cheeks. He glanced nervously towards Kev, scared that he would be punished for his reaction. 

“He can stay up here.” Soya continued. Keven made a pleading noise in the back of his throat, but knew better than to press any further. “You’re tired anyway- aren’t you, Babe?” Soya tagged the words with another expectant leer shot towards Keven. It made him bite his tongue, and forfeit with a stuttering sigh. 

“I’ll see you guys after a nap.” He told himself more than them. His hands flexed at his sides from the shear restraint he forced himself to have. “Love you both.” Kev ground out- unable to put enough emotion into the words. 

____________________

Soya laid on the couch with Ash atop her. His cheek pressed against one of her breasts, and the television rambled on in Mandarin as she absently combed her fingers through his red hair. He fell asleep not long after coming down here; her scent calmed him much faster than she would have predicted. She knew well that her husband didn’t intend to scare him like the idiot had, but she couldn’t believe he would be so dense. The helpless look in Keven’s eyes when she first entered the room had seared into her memory. She had no idea what happened during last night’s raid, but was determined that Kev needed to explain everything after a good rest. 

Ash muttered something, one of his hands coming up to scrub at his eye. His head lifted suddenly, red inflaming his face as he stared wide-eyed down at Soya’s thinly covered boobs. She couldn’t help but chuckle at his expression. Sebastian’s doe-eyed innocence only made him all the more endearing to her. 

“Lay down.” She smiled as she led his head down by the nape of his neck, “It’s alright.” He made a move to gain distance between himself and her, apologies bubbling to the surface. 

“Ash, Sweetie.” she rolled her eyes and sat up with him. 

“Alpha’s gonna be-” Sebastian started, silencing as soon as Soya’s finger brushed his lips.

“Alpha isn’t going to do anything.” her black opal eyes shined with promise. His blush shared the hue of his hairline as he pointedly locked eyes to the television. Soya hummed with a tone of defeat. She leaned forward, thoughtfully staring down at the bare wood flooring between her feet. Right, the rug was still in the garage- they should probably throw that out. 

“Ash,” she muttered lightly, “When was your last heat?” The catch in Ash’s breath was audible between them. He didn’t dare glance over at her, his sight locked to the television as tears welled on his lashes. 

“Can you guess how long ago it was?” She coaxed, her light touch caused him to retreat to the far side of the couch before either of them realized he had moved at all. He apologized under his breath, smoothing the sleeve of his shirt for the thousandth time. 

“We should be getting ready for it, you and I.” Soya tried to ease his fear, from the look on his face, it wasn’t working. “You’re with us now, Ash. not… It won’t be like whatever’s going through your head.” 

“I don’t want to think about it.” he ground out, still barely above a whisper. “Why do I even have to? I’m a guy… I can’t get…”

“Omegas go into heat, that’s just how things are.” Soya considered, “It’s something we’ll have to ask god-”

“Gods don’t exist!” Sebastian’s voice boomed in the hushed room. Soya’s blood ran cold at the purity of rage in Ash’s face. “Too bad, really. I’d look forward to spit in its face- why… why would anything  _ good _ put me through...”

“I’m sorry.” Soya croaked, unable to think of any other response. They sat in the relative silence of the living room. The television was still unawaringly reporting foreign news.

____________________

Keven walked with a touch more purpose than he intended as he descended the home’s stares. Soya had since begun cooking in the kitchen, Ash stayed unmoved from his spot on the couch. Kev wanted to approach the redhead first, apologize for what he had done and hope there was still a chance for him to beg for a way to redeem himself. Soya quickly waved him into the kitchen before he could disturb the dissociated omega. 

“My heat’s in a few weeks, I don’t know how he’s going to handle even that.” Soya warned with a wooden spoon in hand. Keven frowned, holding his arms out for a hug, which she eagerly welcomed. 

“We arrested the lead handler this morning.” Kev started, tightening his hold on his wife as if she would slip away at any point. “They’re feeding the omegas we save, right fucking back into the harems. We… there was one that was in the same house as Sebastian… Ash could’ve…” 

“You guys got them out though, right?” Soya’s mouth went dry at the look on the alpha’s face. He couldn’t answer, guilt and the pain of being betrayed clogged his throat. 

“You’ve got  _ her _ .” Soya tried to sound threatening, but her voice squeaked. 

“That bitch isn’t escaping.” the alpha promised with a growl in the back of his throat.

“Three.” Sebastian spooked both of them. He stood awkwardly with arms wrapped around himself, still unable to bring himself to lift his eyes higher than the tile flooring. 

“Three?” Soya questioned. 

“I was in three harems. I- I thought that they were just another branch of the handlers. None of us realized anything different.” Ash’s voice grew less audible as he continued to talk, nerves clearly strangling him. A growl ripped from Keven’s throat, startling both of the omegas. He stalked towards the sliding door, cracking it so that he could get some fresh air. His shift was excruciatingly evident to Ash. Soya couldn’t stop herself from cooing as she crossed the space to wrap Sebastian in her arms.

“He’s not mad at you.” She rushed to explain. 

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be this jumpy.” Ash hissed at himself, his eyes screwed shut to keep the tears from falling.

Alpha reached an arm out towards them, his voice commanding Sebastian to  _ come _ . Dark, demonic claws brandished the ends of his fingers, the pitch colour distorting up the majority of his forearm. Keven was an alpha, that fact resonated in Ash’s blood as he obediently stepped closer despite everything within him screaming for him to not. The alpha’s clawed hand wrapped around his thin shoulder, pulling him flush against his muscled body. 

“I love you.” Keven purred through the coarseness of his tone. “How can I prove to you that you don’t need to be afraid?” Sebastian tensely leaned into the chest he was being held against. The beating of Alpha's heart thundered in his ear as he tried his best to be good for Alpha. 

“We’re going to start doing things that will work on our trust, how does that sound?” Keven didn't smile as he pressed a kiss into Ash’s hairline. The omega stiffly nodded, hoping that would be good enough to keep the alpha’s rage away from himself. Just agree to whatever he was saying, anything he wanted from Ash; Ash would do. 

____________________

“The omegas are safe, and we’ve already got a testimony from one of them.” Lance finally had good news. Keven stood on the back porch of his home, his cellphone pressed tightly against his ear. 

“Where are we putting them?” Kev prompted, dreading the answer.

“Family.” Lance answered without missing a beat. “There’s this system that’s starting to gain traction, Attendants I believe they call themselves. They look for family or friends: reliable places to put the omegas instead of state funded… bullshit.” 

“Why weren’t we doing that before?” Keven scoffed, but there was a ghost of a smile on his face.

“My question exactly. Someone’s been lining their pockets with the omegas' blood.” Lance was interrupted by a more distant voice before quickly returning, “I gotta’ go. When you get free time, we want you to try interviewing the other survivor. He doesn’t want to speak to any of us- since you’re the one that found him, maybe he will for you.” 

“As soon as I can.” Kev promised, hearing Lance hang up within seconds. He made a mental note to bring up what Ash had said later on- perhaps he could be used as a witness as well…

Would Sebastian be brave enough to do that though?

The albino man paced back into his home, the scent of his wife’s cooking greeting him immediately. She was missing, although she would most likely be back within a moment. Sebastian stood in the corner, slicing carrots. He always insisted that he wanted to be helpful, at least they found something for him to do. 

“Sweetheart.” Keven muttered, frowning as Ash flinched and turned abruptly to face him. “How about I try giving you a back rub tonight? After we get all cleaned up.” Sebastian quickly returned to his seemingly neutral shade of red, swallowing his dry throat as he turned the thought over in his head.

“If… if that’s what you want.” he eventually relented with a blatantly fake smile. It hurt like a knife twisting in Keven’s chest to see his mate look so uneasy, but the only way to make it better was to start. At least, that’s what the alpha had convinced himself. They’ve spent the last month or so toeing around, afraid of causing Ash to slip into a drop. It clearly wasn’t working- perhaps he was even picking up on their own anxiety which may have been amplifying his. 

“I give you my word, if you tell me to stop I will.” the alpha made sure to hold Sebastian’s gaze as he spoke, which entailed hooking a finger under the smaller man’s chin. 

“ _ S….stop  _ isn’t…” Ash stuttered, barely even able to round out the word at all, even in passing. Keven hadn’t given it any thought, considering he’s heard Ash demand  _ stop _ a few times. But… that was also while he was under the effect of those drugs. Now that it’s just him- he doesn’t have the nerve to state something so definitive. 

“Is there something easier that you could say instead?” Kev considered, “Like…. I don't know.” The alpha’s voice trailed off. Ash continued to turn more and more feverishly red as time dragged by. 

“Safe word.” Ash accusingly squeaked, “You want a safe word with me?” 

“If that’s what this is called.” the alpha shrugged, “Would it help?” 

“O-orchid.” Sebastian rushed to explain, “flowers are good, flowers are pretty… They aren’t bad things. So… Orchid.” Keven couldn’t stifle the proud smile that spread across his face, echoing his little mate’s chosen word. This alone was a step towards trust that Keven wished he had thought of long ago. 

____________________

Sebastian and Soya were already in their shared bed when Keven found himself finding every excuse to not go into their bedroom. He never thought a simple back rub could make him so nervous. This was something he mindlessly did for Soya all the time! According to her, he did a half decent job. Most of the time she would easily fall asleep in the middle of his ministrations. 

It was clear that Soya had been trying to settle Ash the entire time they were upstairs. Keven stood at the doorway like a vampire requiring an invitation. This was ridiculous, the alpha chastised himself. They slept together how many times? Not to mention most of which he ended up serving as a body pillow to both of his omegas. This was just some premeditated petting… Keven deflated- don’t think of it like that. It sounds so… vile when stated like that. 

“Don’t look so abused.” Soya’s voice rang from the bed. Both of his omegas were looking at him- the sight alone pulling at his every heart string. He would have murdered to have this opportunity last night. Heat flushed his skin as the itch to have them both in his arms surged to the surface- insecurities be damned. 

Keven’s weight caused the mattress to dip familiarly, he playfully rolled a growl before he realized that may not have been the wisest of decisions. Soya purred her reply as she wrapped her arms around Keven’s neck. Alpha pressed her into the bed with a kiss, his hands admittedly beginning to wander without his conscious thought. 

Sebastian watched with lips parted. He seemed to have forgotten that he should be turning away as the two’s blatantly unbridled love and trust for each other captivated him. The growl in Alpha’s chest brought up a bubbling giggle in his wife instead of fear or surrender. Their kiss was harsh even as Keven abruptly hooked the collar of her loose shirt with a claw. Her skin was unscathed. The creamy smooth spans of her breasts came into full view, reminding Ash that he had, in fact, been staring. He nearly fell off the edge of the bed after finally regaining control over his limbs. Just out of the corner of his eye, he saw Keven lower his head, marking the underside of her breast with a purpling kiss. Soya squeaked from the assault, but made no movement to stop him. 

Ash flinched when a hand wrapped around his. Soya had a dreamy look in her eyes as she drunkenly looked towards him, her fingers entwining with his. 

“Don’t be like that.” She sounded drunk. Ash stuttered without being able to form any kind of response. Keven seemed to just now remember that Sebastian was there at all by the guilty look on his face. 

“I’m nothing like her.” Ash croaked and his eyes looked haunted as they flickered between the two. He wasn’t clutching back in Soya’s hand, instead it seemed like he wanted to pull away. 

“We don’t want you to be like Soya. You deserve your own kind of confidence.” Alpha spoke with a husky tone that sent tingles down Ash’s spine. He’s never heard that kind of voice outside of a terrifying situation- it was hard to control the anxiety that flooded his system. 

Keven was different. Sebastian tried to convince himself. Keven wouldn’t… 

That paralyzing familiar weight came over him. Knees pressed hard into the mattress on either side of his hips. Ash couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t see past the tears welling in his eyes. A ghosting touch of claws combed over his throat; Sebastian only arched more, revealing all of his throat he could. Maybe Alpha will be pleased with him.

“Ash, breathe.” the command rolled fluidly, setting like a stone in the core of his mind. His body obeyed, something deep within him taking control and leaving him to idly watch. The heady scent of oak and fire overcame Sebastian’s senses. Alpha, the fact that an alpha was lingering over him like a starving wolf surged to the forefront of his mind. His body helpless to do anything about it. 

“I’m not going to do anything tonight. Try to calm down, Sweetheart.” Keven muttered as he pressed a chaste kiss against Ash’s cheek. It was too soon, Keven had already messed up too much for him to try to push Ash forward with this. 

They have tomorrow. Maybe he’ll be in a better state of mind for them to try again tomorrow. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you, thank you for your continued curiosities and patience!
> 
> Rage is for the comments~


	12. Home Checks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Had this typed out a while ago, then proceeded to hurt myself.  
> I'm back to 90%-ish right now, and hope to be at 100% tomorrow if not the next day. Until then, hopefully our little Ninja army is doing alright.
> 
> (not the greatest, but an update)

Keven answered his front door to find three betas standing there, expectantly glaring back at him. He hadn’t exactly expected a group of sordid handlers to crowd the step of his home. His once pale pink irises were already flooded with a blood ruby, and his outgrown, snow white hair bristled faintly with the anticipation of shifting. Without uttering a word, Keven crossed his arms with the black ink of his mating mark on full display towards them. 

“We’re going to ask you to step out of the house for a moment, Alpha Direson.” The one that seemed to be the lead of this particular group of handlers spoke flatly, realizing that she wasn’t about to be acknowledged. She held up a badge with her unit number and name.  _ Jenifer Holent.  _

“What’s this about?” Keven growled, smiling inwardly at the flinch the three shared because of the sound. 

“Home checks. You’ve recently adopted 19075, correct?” She clicked her tongue, a simmering hate bubbling in her gaze. 

“Sebastian has a name- and yes. These,  _ checks _ , were never a thing before.” Kev didn’t even adjust his weight, instead he continued to lean his shoulder on the jamb of the door and block the door from opening any further with his foot. 

“Correct… but from the unexpected…  _ developments _ . We are now personally checking all recent adoptions.” Jenifer swiftly replaced her identification into her pocket, cocking her head to the side. “Shouldn’t be a problem. Unless you are hiding something, as well.” 

Keven raised a brow at her slip. They were clearly adamant about coming in. This would probably be the only house they actually thoroughly check: all of which because of spite. With a rumbling sigh, the alpha looked over the main foyer of his house. Sebastian was standing in the walkway between the living-room and the kitchen, his precious eyes wide with worry. 

Thank god that Soya finally got onto Kev’s ass to do something with that rug in the garage, Keven realized. He knew these sniveling bastards would have loved to find something like that to use against him.

“It’s okay, Babe, I’ll be right outside.” He spoke to Ash, hoping that his mate’s fragile mind could handle these tarnish scented betas in his home. This was his safety, where they couldn’t find him. Yet, here they are. 

When Keven turned back to the trio in order to step outside, the looks on their faces told of how shocked they were that Keven could speak without snarling. 

“Yeah.” Keven thought as he shouldered his way through, “That’s what happens when you aren’t a pain in the ass every time you show up.”

The albino alpha stood on his porch, arms still crossed to hide his shifted claws, and eyes burning into the betas through the open door. One had the nerve to paint a faux smile as they spoke with Sebastian. Keven’s heart clutched in his chest at the hurt expression Ash gave him. He must have thought they were there to take him back. 

Fuck, Ash was going to drop, and the assholes would probably try to pin it on Keven so he would actually be taken away. 

“His room is upstairs-  _ that’s _ what you’re here to check.” Keven barked in a volume that nearly caused one of the bastards to drop their clipboard. “ _ Stay away from my omegas _ ” stayed behind his fangs for now. 

The stout one that had approached Ash seemed to have gotten the hint from the way he stepped back and away from the omega. Sebastian’s forlorn stare towards Keven physically hurt the alpha. It took every ounce of Keven’s restraint to not charge into his own house and clutch Sebastian against his chest. 

Soya emerged from the basement with a basket full of clean laundry in her arms. Her voice switched to mandarin just in time for the beta’s to not understand what exactly she called them. She shot a questioning glare towards Keven, snorting her distaste of the betas’ scents in her domain. 

Keven watched helplessly as his wife trotted up the stairs after two of the handlers. He could hear her displeased voice even from the front door. One of them stayed downstairs with Ash, seamlessly urging him to move to somewhere “more private.” His mate kept nervously looking back to Keven. Each time their eyes met it was with more desperation. Keven growled a warning from the threshold of the house, his head leaning over the line of the doorway. 

“Get back, Alpha!” The grey eyed beta snapped over his shoulder and his arm came up as if to shelter Ash from Keven. Before Kev could call out for Sebastian to come to him, the beta hooked an arm around Ash’s waist and moved them both out of sight through the back door. 

He stood for a moment, rage boiling his blood as he contemplated the risk of breaking the handler’s only rule. He didn’t need to give them anything to use against them. He knew they would make it sound as if he went feral without provocation. Keven forced his shoulders back and his spine to stand straight. His cellphone was up against his ear, ringing before he had a handle on his voice.

“Sergeant Lance-”

“I need someone here before I kill a handler.” Keven cut in. 

“Where are you?” the fellow alpha prompted, his voice rang over the station as he motivated other people. 

“They’re in my fucking house, antagonizing my omegas.” Keven growled as Jenifer came into view. She glanced over, bemused that he was actually behaving. Her face fell when she realized he was on the phone. 

“We’re coming, Direson.” His sergeant promised before cutting off the phone call. It did little to comfort his anxiety, however, since Sebastian was still out of sight, alone, with a handler. Soya was upstairs, her voice shrill as she gave the handler by her a very hard time. Jenifer, the woman leader, studied Keven with a snarl on her lip. Hopefully she was frustrated because there was literally nothing in this house they could use as an excuse to get Sebastian into their care. The gears were turning in her head, Keven wondered if she would try the same thing Victoria- the other bitch- had. He would expect them to have learned since then though. Despite how satisfying as it would be, he would restrain himself from punching that smug look off of her face. 

Their station was three miles from the house. Keven reminded himself when Soya’s voice became too quiet for him to pick out. It won’t take long at all for them to get there. Until then, Keven braced his forearms on either side of the door jamb, blocking the way out of his home with his eyes burning into the head handler. 

Sirens were blaring behind him as his coworkers pulled onto the street. Two of the three betas had met each other and compared their- assumed to be- lack of findings under hushed breaths. Keven’s thoughts were narrowed on the unseen third one with Sebastian. Soya hadn’t come down the stairs yet either: they better have not done anything to her. 

A hand fell onto Keven’s shoulder, and he knew it was Lance by scent. 

“Perfect timing, Officer.” Jenifer smiled broadly, “We were just contemplating the need of calling you guys.” 

Both alpha’s raise a brow at that. Other police units were pacing up to the house, two of them flaking each of the sides that led to the back yard. 

“The conditions we found both of these poor omega’s in- we took photos.” Her voice quaked in a well practiced faux sympathy. “They both fell into a drop when we tried to help them, though. But we were so scared about trying to remove them with that rabid alpha standing there.” 

Keven’s body jerked, his claws fully formed and carving into the wood frame of the doorway as he fought the urge to lunge forward. Lance motioned for the men to search the house as he expectantly held out a hand for the handler’s camera. It was handed over too willingly, with a too smug of a glance towards Keven.

A frown creased Lance’s brow as he panned through their finds. 

“We still don’t know what he’s done with poor little Sebastian.” She continued- blatantly contradicting what she had said earlier. 

Lance’s breath hitched as the breeze of Keven rushing by him whirled past. Kev had claws fisted in the breast of her suit, and her back pinned against the wall. The sound that erupted from his throat may have been a demand for an explanation, but it came out as a meaningless, feral roar. Jenifer paled as her facade to paint Keven as a monster seemed to be working too well. 

“Kev, you may want to come on upstairs.” One of the men shouted from the top of the stairs, “Holy shit-” quickly following his words once Keven came into his view. 

“How does Soya look?” Lance asked for his tongue tied friend. 

“She’s… uh…” The man blushed slightly, “They scruffed her, and she doesn’t seem to be wearing clothing.” 

The albino alpha never lifted his gaze from his prey- every intent to maim her rippled over his muscles, but then the thought hit him. What did they do to Sebastian, if they wanted to claim they couldn’t even  _ find _ him? He released his hold on the woman, his body impulsively bolting out the back door.

Three stood in the front corner of the lot, the two officers and a fast talking handler. Sebastian was nowhere to be seen. 

It took nothing for Keven to vault over the deck’s railing. Just as quickly, he ducked below the structure to scan the rubbish littered crawlspace for his mate. Vaguely he remembered hearing a rush of footsteps, but they were quickly silenced since the fleeing handler was promptly tackled to the grass by his coworkers. 

Nothing there. 

Keven’s stomach soured as he regarded the garden plots that he had just upturned for Sebastian to work in. The dirt didn’t look disturbed, but if Ash was under there he would never be able to forgive himself. He paced to the shed, unsure if he meant to check the containment or if he was on the way to fetch a shovel to start digging. 

The stink of that beta was definitely in the shed. Keven stood at the doorway, his nose wrinkling at the strength of the man’s presence, but there was no hint of Ash. Then again, they did scruff Soya too. 

He needed to get in the house and at her side: his heart ached. She was probably terrified. At least… at least she knows some of his co-workers. If she heard Lance, she would know him. She would know that nothing else was going to happen. 

The handler’s scent was in here Keven corralled his thoughts- so there was a solid chance Ash was here too. There weren’t too many places to hide someone in their shed. A cabinet, a chest filled with bags of lawn seed, random yard tools, and a forgotten desk that had remnants of wood work abandoned on the surface. Searching as he moved to the back of the shed, Keven threw the cabinet doors open. 

On the second shelf, Ash was cramped into the impossibly tight space. His red hair was messed: half out of the braid he had earlier as if someone had fisted his hair. His scent was completely missing, Keven prayed it was because of a scruffing. 

He muttered nonsense as he unfolded Sebastian from the shelf. A black eye was forming high on his left cheek, his breathing unnervingly slow and shallow. Ash was cold and limp, but Kev could see the sparkle cross his sapphire eyes when he saw that Keven was the one looming over him. 

“We’re going inside.” The alpha promised in a breath and stood with his mate securely in his arms. 

Lance nodded in acknowledgement when Keven entered the kitchen. The team was in the process of searching over the home once more as Lance quietly explained that they had moved Soya into the shared bedroom. 

“I’ll file a report with what I’ve witnessed, and they were kind enough to record their own behavior.” Lance lifted the camera into Keven’s sight, but was sure that Kev couldn’t see the image. “Send me their testimony as soon as you can.” 

“Fuck all of them.” Keven grumbled, “Do I need to get my two ready to move?”

“Hopefully it won’t come to that. Go on, I’ve got this.” The dark skinned alpha smiled his signature grin, albeit a bit waterier than it usually was.

____________________

Keven appreciated the notion of his men covering Soya in his bathrobe as a way to preserve her decency. Soya was completely nude, and undoubtedly on that camera that Lance hadn’t let Keven see. It was for the best, the alpha told himself, he was a hair away from murdering Jenifer as it was. 

Nothing could have beaten the feeling of having both of his omegas pressed against his chest as if they were just sleeping. Their heads fell just so onto his shoulders and each of his arms wrapped around their torsos to pull them impossibly closer. He wished that they weren’t scruffed, he wished that they could just tell them if they were hurting- or anything really. Keven craved to hear their voices, and the longer they were silent the more his thoughts began to circle around murdering every handler that crossed his path. 

The longest hour of Keven’s life dragged by before Soya began to shiver. He shifted his hold, pulling her warmly tighter against him. He laced her hair with kisses and promises. He had to do something or else he would lose himself to instinct. 

A choked sob rattled his wife’s frame. Keven couldn’t muffle the sound fast enough with a firm kiss. When he finally drew back, she blinked doe eyes up at him. 

“I’m so sorry.” He whined. Carefully, he laid Sebastian on the pillows so he could hold his wife in both of his arms. 

“You didn’t know.” Soya’s voice cracked, a thought struck her soon after, “Did you see Ash’s room?” 

“I haven’t even looked, been here with you two.” dread settled in Keven’s stomach- what did those fucks do?

“His plants,” Soya regained some of her venom. “They upturned his seedlings.” The alpha frowned at the thought. Ash was so excited about them- so proud of what he was achieving, and they literally just upturned them?

“Plants can be replaced…” Keven knew that it was more the principle than the little sprouts themselves. He still tried to convince himself that all three of them could get past this, eventually. Soya had been assaulted in her own home, Sebastian just had the scare of his nightmare coming true, and Keven was beating himself up for not doing anything about it. 

All because he was afraid of giving them something to use against him.

Fuck that- next time, he wasn’t going to let go of either of his omegas. If they were dumb enough to try again. The handlers as a whole don’t seem that bright, however. Keven tucked his nose into the crook of Soya’s shoulder as his arms cinched around her. He knew that she was focused on what they had done to Sebastian as a way for her not to think about herself. It was natural for her to be worried for everyone else first. She felt like she could actually do something to help if it wasn’t her own hell. 

“How about we get you in a nice hot bath?” Keven muttered with his lips ghosting just over her breastbone.

“And leave Ash?” She sounded scandalized. Kev didn’t even need to lift his head to know that she was giving him that signature look. He nipped at the little gland he had been nosing against, pushing himself up to meet her gaze. 

“You are cold, you are a royal  _ bitch _ when you are cold.” Despite his effort to sound serious, the fact that he was just teasing her caused the corner of his lip to twitch into a smile. 

“And you’re an ass just ‘cause you can be.” Soya snarked back. Sebastian rolled onto his side, earning both of their attention. He was now facing away, and had the blankets pulled tight over his shoulder. 

“Cold?” Soya reached out to move a bit of his hair back and off of his face, but he curled away from the touch. 

“I’d rather be alone after… after.” Sebastian sounded like he wanted to hiss the words, but was too afraid of what the repercussions would be. 

“We’ll be in the hall bath then- yell if you need anything.” Kev didn’t press their redhead any further. This was what he said he wanted, they needed to respect that- regardless of how his wife’s glare burned his skin.

____________________

Sebastian made sure to wait until he thought they were safely locked inside the hall bathroom before he braved to sit up. He could clearly hear the water run as they filled the bath for Soya. Soaking in a hot bath sounded amazing, actually. He wished he had spoken up about it- but his nerves were too rattled to be in a confined space with an alpha. Something within him feared they wouldn’t give him the breathing room he needed, but Keven didn’t push for more of an explanation. Either he was too worried about his wife, or he could tell that Ash really needed the time. 

Regardless, this is what Sebastian wanted, and he was going to take advantage of the time. He lifted his wrist to his own lips, and bit into the gland sitting just under the skin. His breathing hitched and his body fell back to the bed as the endorphins flooded his system. Tingling, warming bubbles cloaked him from the inside. When he finally released himself, it took a moment for him to regain his senses. It felt like a high- almost. The world was warm and woozy. The bed let him sink just a little deeper into the mattress. It chased the unfortunate sensations of the scruffing away, and in his experience, this was the quickest way to do it. 

Once he was somewhat certain his feet could reliably take his weight, Sebastian shuffled to the hallway. He had every intention to go to his room, and to see what Soya was talking about when it came to his seedlings. 

He, however, had a clear view right into the hall’s bathroom. Soya and Keven were both wedged into the tub together. Soya settled between the much larger alpha’s legs. She looked to be in bliss, just laying on Kev’s chest while he muttered in that devil’s voice and held her in his strong arms. 

Another string of Sebastian’s heart broke. He could have been where she was right now- if he wasn’t such a broken omega. As he held back a sob, he bolted across the hall into his room to keep the other two from noticing he was there. 

Dirt littered the floor. The simple plastic container that served to hold the seedlings’ little pods was torn to bits. The plants themselves were strewn across the carpet, some of them crushed as if by the handler’s boots. Even the pot containing the orchid plant that he was gifted when he moved in was shattered. Green, long leaves that were once a healthy plant were torn from their roots and trampled into the carpet. 

He knew exactly what the other two were going to say.  _ Things could be replaced, we can get you more plants. We’re just glad you’re okay. _ But that wasn’t the point. He was finally starting to feel secure where he was. Now they just came in and upturned everything he was working on. The gardens were what he was contributing to the household, and those handlers just threw in his face how  _ replaceable _ he and his efforts were. 

Meaningless- all of the effort and hesitant excitement was for nothing! Ash knelt by the stain, lifting a bean sprout that somewhat survived. 

Not all of them were crushed, if he finds more dirt, he may be able to save a couple of them. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you, thank you for your continued curiosities!  
> Rage is for the comments~

**Author's Note:**

> ****Psst~ I'm constantly writing something! If you liked this I encourage you to click onto my account and see if anything else suites your fancy. Thank you so much, feel free to leave a comment!****


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